


Asylum

by Kumohime



Category: Gackt (Musician) - Fandom, KAT-TUN (Band), NewS (Band), SMAP
Genre: F/M, Horror, M/M, Multi, Psychological Horror, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-27
Updated: 2015-06-12
Packaged: 2018-03-19 23:24:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 29
Words: 71,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3628149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kumohime/pseuds/Kumohime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He woke up in the fuzzy blur of drug induced sleep. Where was he? Oh, right, he’d been locked up. He remembered now. And he had a roommate.<br/>“I’m Tegoshi Yuya” he said sticking out his hand.</p><p>“I’m Kato Shigeaki.”</p><p>“Well, hi Shige. Welcome to the fifth circle of hell.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

He woke up in the fuzzy blur of drug induced sleep. The lights were dim so they didn’t hurt his eyes but they did bother him. Where was he? Oh, right, he’d been locked up. He remembered now. He remembered his mother, “I’m sorry, but you need help we can’t give you.” She said and then leaned against her soon to be husband. He was hugging her and comforting her, but that’s not what he saw. He saw the body of a tall man, fit, he though some might consider him handsome, certainly his mother did, the problem was that when he got to his face he didn’t see the handsome face his mother saw, he could see the distorted face of a demon. 

He had seen it the first time he came into the house, he saw the hollow of his eyes, the eyebrows stretched up, the skin a sickly grayish color and the mouth that distorted every time he spoke, opening too wide, dislocated, taking up the whole face. He never got used to seeing them, their true faces, even though he’d seen them ever since he was a child. He had tried to convince his mother to leave the man; he had tried everything short telling him about his… what? Power? No, that sounded too much like a superhero, he was no superhero. Gift? No, it wasn’t that. Curse? That sounded too melodramatic. 

Anyway, in the end he threw caution to the wind and told his mother that her fiancé was a monster, a criminal, he wasn’t sure what he’d done, but he was sure he had done something pretty horrible judging by his true face. That had gotten him completely and utterly screwed and locked up in a loony bin. Well to be fair he had done more than just telling her, but he didn’t want to think about that now.

He stopped thinking about his mother alone with that… man and started to look around him. 

He remembered being taken and him fighting them. They must have brought him to the room after they’d drugged him. Above him he saw a bed. So he was on the bottom of a bunk bed, awesome. He turned his head to the right and he saw a white wall and two small desks. He moved his eyes, going around the room until he got to see something in front of him and he let out a scream.

“Sshhh. Do you want to bring them here? I don’t know about you, but I don’t need to be tranqued, thank you very much.” It was a guy, a boy, looking at him upside down from the upper bed.

“T-tranqued?” He asked.

“Yep, tranquilizers. Sometimes they give you a nice trip, but most of the time it’s just darkness and a headache.” He looked at the boy more closely. He had a pretty face, like a girl´s but not quite. He had big dark eyes that twinkled with mischief and now he was smiling at him. He saw him disappear and make a somersault and land neatly on the floor, in a second fast movement he jumped on the bed in front of him way too close. Okay, no personal space sense.

“I’m Tegoshi Yuya” he said sticking out his hand.

“I’m Kato Shigeaki.”

“Well, hi Shige. Welcome to the fifth circle of hell.”

After his welcome, Shige had no idea what to say to the kid, so he went with something he’d heard in jail movies:

“So, umm, why are you here?” He asked

Tegoshi gave him a crooked smile, cleared his throat and started singing: 

“Crazy, I’m crazy for feeling so lonelyyyy. I’m crazy, crazy for feeling soo blue!” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bDLSxM8yHw

Shige was looking at him wide eyed when he heard a loud knock on the door. The little window on it opened and I saw the eyes of a man.

“What’s going on in there?” The eyes asked.

“Nothing, just making friends with my new roommate,” Tegoshi said with a completely sweet and innocent voice.

“Well, it’s late and you can’t be that loud, you know that, Tegoshi-kun. Do I have to go in there?”

Shige didn’t know how he managed it but Tegoshi looked even more innocent and cute and said:

“No, Ryo-kun.”

“Would it kill you to add the SAN?” Tegoshi just smiled. The man rolled his eyes and said: “Go to bed and sleep, both of you.”

“Yes, Ryo-kun.” The man left them alone.

“Don’t worry about Ryo-kun, he is crabby but he is nice deep deep deep inside.”

Shige already knew that, no distorted face.

Tegoshi jumped back on the bed and sat crossed legged in front of Shige. He put his elbows on his thighs and his face on his fist and looked at him.

“So, why are you here?” he asked.

“I- I have hallucinations. That’s what they say.”

“And do you have hallucinations?”

“No. But I’m starting to wonder.”

“Mhh, we’ll see” The other guy was looking at him with speculation on his face and he didn’t look so crazy or so much as a kid anymore, he looked older. “I’ll introduce you to the rest and we’ll see.”

What the hell did that mean? Tegoshi’s face became even more serious and said:

“Listen up, this is important, remember my voice and remember my eyes, if you notice any change shout for Ryo-kun, tell him I’m having an episode and to bring the drugs.” Shit, the guy couldn’t get any weirder. Okay, yes he could, because Tegoshi’s expression changed again and he was back to the crazy kid he was before.

“Oyasumi, Shige.” He said and gave him a kiss on the cheek before climbing to his own bed. 

 

The next morning, Shige woke up to the knock from their guard… well nurse, saying it was time to get up. He got up and immediately saw Tegoshi sitting on his bed.

“Good morning, sunshine.” The guy was so weird, why didn’t he get a regular crazy? You know, completely spaced out and moving back and forth, back and forth… quietly mumbling something. Stress on the word QUIETLY.

“Morning.” He answered.

“So now we go to the showers, it’s bath day, and then we have breakfast, it’s gruel day.” Tegoshi laughed and said: “Na, just kidding. The food is not bad for a place like this, I would know.” The door was opened and they went out to the showers. 

Shige expected to see people with distorted faces all around, he was, after all in an institution where at least some of the people had done bad things, right? Well, no, all he saw were regular human faces. Maybe he HAD been crazy his whole life. 

They reached the showers and there, a male nurse gave them a towel, a bar of soap and some shampoo. Inside they undressed. He turned around and saw his roommate. He knew that he was small but he had actually defined muscles, do they have a gym here? He thought and then he saw Tegoshi turn around and got a glimpse of his back before he covered it with his towel. The kid had a burn scar that looked pretty nasty. He was about to ask him about it when the other guy turned around and said:

“I know I’m irresistible but stop ogling me.” He winked at Shige and started laughing. “Kidding. Come on this way. After you Shige-sama.” He ended with a low bow. Shige didn’t know how to react to that so he just laughed and went in to take a shower.

Much later, after breakfast, Tegoshi insisted on introducing him to “the rest.”

“Then you’ll know if you are a crazy with or without hallucinations.” He had to admit he was curious and where else could he go? His schedule was wide open.

He followed the smaller guy to the “Recreation room.” The room was huge with some tables, chairs and couches. It had a lot of light that came from the windows. There were many and they all had solid iron bars but they let the light in, so Shige didn’t feel so confined. 

There were other patients, not as many as you would think given the size of the room and the whole facility. Most of them were sitting alone; others were in twos playing some game. Some were sitting with doctors or nurses. He also noticed there were men and women and the ages ranged from around 35 to about 50 or 60. He saw a woman swaying back and forth mumbling something, she was old and her skin was very white, the eyes completely empty, he noticed she was pulling some of her hair out. Okay, maybe he wouldn’t trade Tegoshi.

He was looking at the other people when he heard Tegoshi say: “You would expect more people, right? There used to be but there has been many transfers and… well other things. Come on, this way.” He led him to a group of people gathered together without giving him the opportunity of asking more. They all seemed much younger than the average of the patients in the room, closer to his own age and Tegoshi’s, who was only a few months younger than him to Shige’s utter shock. There were 3 guys and 2 girls. 

One of the girls was short with dark short hair and really pretty. She was sitting at a table next to a guy with straight black hair that reached past his jaw. All he could see was from the chest up but he seemed to be very fit, he was wearing a white t-shirt similar to his own and, though he wouldn’t admit it, he was a little jealous of the guy’s biceps. In front of them there was another man, but Shige could only see his back. They were playing cards. Right next to the table there was a big couch with its back resting up against a tall window. The third man and the other girl were sitting there. Even though they were a little apart, for some reason you could tell they were part of the same group. The man was sitting on one side looking at the others, apparently watching the game. He had his arms wrapped around himself, like he was cold, or rather like he was holding himself together. The girl was sitting on the couch on her side looking out the window and couldn’t see her face but she had long dark hair. She seem relaxed at first but as Tegoshi and him started to walk up to them she seemed to tense a little. Was it something she saw outside?

Tegoshi walked right up to them and Shige followed behind. 

“Hi” His roommate said. The girl playing cards looked up and gave him a warm smile.

“Hey, Tego!” She said.

They all said hello, except the girl on the couch, who just kept looking outside.

“Everybody this is Shige, my new roommate.” Shige felt the urge to hide behind the smaller man but he fought it.

“Hi,” he said raising a hand. Their expressions changed. The girl’s smile faltered, the two guys at the table looked at him with mistrust, the guy on the couch didn’t really change his expression but scooted farther back on the couch and lifted his knees to his chest and just looked at Shige with a neutral expression. And the other girl might have changed her expression but since she wouldn’t look away from the window, he couldn’t know.

Tegoshi rolled his eyes and said “Would you please relax? He might be one of us and even if he’s not, he’s cool. He spent last night and this morning with me and he hasn’t screamed for a new roommate.”

“Yeah, but he thought about it,” said the biceps guy getting up. He was about Shige’s height but better built. The shirt was a little tight, Shige noticed, and he could actually see the guy’s pecks and Shige swore he could even see his abs though the shirt. Honestly, they had to have a gym here.

The bicep man crossed his arms and said:

“Yes, we have a gym but only a few of us can use it, way too many weapons for the most unstable.” Shige’s mouth dropped almost to his knees. Was the guy reading his freaking mind?

He seemed about to say something but the girl next to him put a hand on his arm and told him: “Enough stop freaking him out and let Tegoshi introduce us.”

However, Tegoshi didn’t introduce them; he was looking at him with a scowl and a pout. “Did you really think about getting rid of me? I’m hurt. Hurt.”

Shige rubbed the back of his head and shifted his weight, why did he feel so guilty?

“Yeah, but only for a moment this morning, I’m always grumpy in the morning. Now, well, I’m thinking you might be a pretty good option.”

As usual his mood changed in a second. “It’s okay, you’ll get to love me. I am an acquired taste. Just don’t try to get rid of me.”

“I won’t.” Tegoshi looked and the bicep guy, who gave a small nod.

“Okay. Everyone, again, this is Shige. He has some kind of hallucinations that got him here. I think he is as sane as I am.” 

That’s comforting, thought Shige. The bicep guy gave a little chuckle.

“Shige, this is Pi, our fearless leader,” said Tegoshi pointing at the bicep guy.

“Yamashita Tomohisa. Now you know my name, use it.”

“He may seem grumpy but he is a nice guy, he looks out for us. This here is Maki-chan. She’s with Pi, so don’t try anything, the last guy who did, was never seen again.” The girl, Maki-chan, smacked Tegoshi on the arm.

“That is not true. Hi Shige, nice to meet you,” she said shaking his hand.

Tegoshi went on. “This is Koyama, the coolest guy and he gets me food!” Koyama was a tall guy who apparently also had access to the gym, though he was slimmer that bic… Yamashita. The other man smiled, still in the same position, and said hello from the farthest end of the couch. “This is Fujigaya, he is a narcissist and he acts as if he is cuter than me, although we all know that’s not true. We still love him, though!” Tegoshi said and got on the balls of his feet his feet and kissed the man on the cheek. Shige was a little relieved it wasn’t just him he did that to.

“Hi, and Tego is crazy so don’t believe what he says about me.”

“Well, yeah, we are all crazy, you guys just hide it better. And last but not least, Eri-chan!” Tegoshi jumped on the couch next to her and threw his arms around her all but toppling her out of the couch. Turning around, she laughed and Shige could finally see her face or part of her face since half of it was completely covered by her hair and she was a foreigner. He had never expected that, but he supposed foreigners could go crazy in Japan. She had wide brown eyes, or eye, and a small nose. Well he guessed not all foreigners had big noses then like in TV. She was actually quite pretty.

“Hi.” Shige said. The girl looked at him and sobered up, she did a little nod as a greeting.

“Isn’t she the cutest?” Shige didn’t know about that since most of her face was covered by her dark hair. With his arms still around her, Tegoshi added: “She is also cool and she never tries to get rid of me, ever. Aaannd she is totally un-attached so feel free to hit on her whenever you are ready.”

The girl, Eri-chan – cute name – rolled her one visible eye and smacked Tegoshi gently on the head. 

“But no means no,” his roommate added, and went on, “but don’t get discouraged too soon, she is a little shy about newcomers, same as Koyama.” She still didn’t say anything; maybe she understood a little but didn’t really speak Japanese.

Still curled up next to the girl, Tegoshi said “So? Will you take him to see the boss, Pi? I feel really strongly about it.”

“When did he arrive, Tego? Yesterday?” Asked Fujigaya

He didn’t like them talking about him as if he wasn’t in the room so he said: “Yeah, yesterday morning.”

“I don’t know, maybe we should wait until he gets used to being here. Get to know him a little better,” added Maki.

“If he is one of us, then the boss will want to see him soon.” Okay Shige was starting to freak out. The boss? Did he stumble on a loony bin mafia? Jesus.

“Don’t worry, he’ll just talk to you. You’ll be fine.” Koyama said. For some reason Shige felt he was telling the truth.

“We’ll see,” Biceps said. “I’ll talk to the boss. And Yamashita, my name is Yamashita.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Tegoshi, what the hell are you getting me into? You know what? I don’t care. I don’t want to meet the boss; I just want to go to the therapy sessions, tell the doctor I don’t see anything I shouldn’t, that the whole thing was a nervous breakdown because of my mom’s engagement or something and get the hell out.”

They were back in their room and Tegoshi was just looking at Shige.

“Boy, you don’t get it. Do you think they’ve never tried that? Hell, I’ve even tried acting normal. It doesn’t work. We are NOT normal and they know it. Besides you probably have a history, don’t you? They don’t put you in here just for one little incident.”

Well he wouldn’t call trying to stab his mother’s monster future husband “little” but the guy had a point. He had a history of psychology and psychiatric sessions. 

As a child he had been terrified when he saw the distorted hellish faces, so he had panic attacks. He had tried to tell his mother about it. About the black hollow eyes that shined from the sunken sockets. The wide open mouths filled with tiny razor teeth, and that had gotten him on his first therapy session and medications. Everything got better when he learnt to shut up and deal with the faces, just look another way, think about something else.

But then, when he was 12, he met Haruka, she was a sweet, quiet girl from school. They talked but they weren’t very close.

Shige was walking back home, Haruka’s house was on the way. He saw her and then saw her father. He grabbed her by the back of her neck and pushed her inside the house. “You’re late. Where the hell have you been?” he said and then he turned and looked right at young Shige, who saw Haruka’s father’s face shift and elongate, the jaw stretching, the skin lost all color, so Shige could see the black blue veins beneath it, and the eyes rapidly sinking into the skull. After a few seconds, the man, if you could still call it that, went into the house.

After that, Shige paid more attention to the girl. He started noticing how she shied away from people, the bruises showing under long sleeves and skirt. Shige couldn’t stop thinking about it. He tried to tell people but when asked, Haruka would deny it and the school also knew about his history of “making up stories.” They knew about his medication and didn’t pay attention to him. So he came to a conclusion, he had to convince Haruka to come forward and say something.

So he went to her house and waited for her father to leave, then he knocked on the door and the girl answered herself. He went in and tried everything to convince her to talk. The problem came when the father came in. He had forgotten something and when he saw Shige he went crazy.

“Who the hell is this? Your boyfriend, you little whore? Come here,” the man shouted. Shige wasn’t sure exactly what happened after that. He remembered being so scared of that creature, which couldn’t be described as a man.

It was going for Haruka. Shige tried to stop it but it threw his 12 year old small body against the wall. Haruka tried to keep the distance between them “P-please daddy, he was just leaving” But it kept going after her. Shige got up and ran straight for the thing’s legs and bit and kicked. The creature was strong but it was also drunk. It lost its balance and fell head first, onto a glass table. It cracked it’s skull against the corner of the solid frame. And then all that Shige could remember was the blood and Haruka screaming. And then the police was there, and he was crying and babbling, “I didn’t mean to. It was one of those things, one of those…”

And then he was in a hospital bed with his mother and he was recovered enough to keep his damn mouth shut. The only thing that had gotten him out of trouble was that they found signs of abuse on Haruka, not to mention his own bruises from being thrown against the wall.

After that he kept quiet. He could still see them, though. Then came a little depression and he had been on and off on antidepressants since then, but he had made sure he kept a low profile and out of trouble. There had been fights when he tried to stop a few girls from leaving with some guy when Shige knew that man was no good, but they were few and far between. And his relationship with his mother had become a little strained. He knew she loved him but he knew it had to be difficult for her.

“See? You have a history of violence and depression” said Tegoshi in a subdued voice. Had he been saying all that out loud?

“Once they put you here, you don’t get out anytime soon, if ever. You don’t know this place’s reputation, do you?” The look on the other’s face gave him a chill. “We’ll talk more after you meet G, the boss”

The guy stood up, came out to Shige and smiled. He patted his head and told him “For now, don’t you worry your pretty head and let’s go have lunch.” And just like that he was crazy kid Tego again. “Today is meatloaf. You want to bet meat of what? We all have different theories. Some involve a secret plot to get rid of old shoes and smelly socks.”

 

So Shige made it through the first day there. He had lunch with Tegoshi and his happy friends who still looked at him weird. After his lunch experience he had to agree with Tegoshi, the meatloaf had to be made of old shoes and smelly socks.

It was night now and they were in their room. Tegoshi was already on his bed, silent, thank god. That’s when he heard the murmurs.

“What did you say?” he asked Tegoshi. He got no answer. He heard the murmurs again. It wasn’t his roommate. Shige sat up on the bed and he saw a small figure scurrying from the door to under the bed.

“What the hell!?” he said and when he leaned over to go look under the bed to see if it was a rat, a big rat… a very big rat, when a dark thing popped up in front of him. He literally jumped and bumped his head on the bed.

“Just leave it alone,” his roommate’s voice said.

“Tegoshi, what the hell? You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

Shige could only see the boy’s head and torso hanging upside down from the upper bed. His roommate rolled his eyes and said: “Such a drama queen. Just go back to sleep and don’t leave the bed. Be a good boy and don’t make me mad,” he said the last part waving his finger like a father to a naughty child. With that he went back to his bed.

What the hell is going on?

 

Even after a few days, Shige knew that there was something… well weird in there. He noticed some “out-of-the-corner-of-the-eye stuff.” He would swear there was someone next to him and when he turned, there was no one there. And he had also found marking on his bedroom under his bed and all over the walls. They were very faint, probably they had been painted over, but they were there. They had strange symbols and a star inside a triangle inside a circle. Tegoshi told him it was probably done by the previous resident of the room.

“Do they scare you?” His roommate had asked.

“Of course not! Though it is a little creepy. Like spells in a B horror movie” 

And of course Tegoshi started singing as he danced down the corridor: “I put a spell on you! Because you're miine…”*

 

Apart from that, he was pretty good, considering the situation. He liked his doctor, he seemed like a good man. He did ask the questions any psychiatrist would ask but somehow he never gave Shige the impression that he was judging him. He still had to take the meds though. 

And as far as “the rest” (that’s how Tegoshi often refers to them and that how Shige thought of them) were slowly, very slowly, warming up to him. He talked a little with Koyama and Fujigaya. Maki was really nice actually and Erika… well Erika still didn’t speak but she did nod to greet him, even though she rarely looked up whenever he was around.

 

****

On visiting day, his mother came to visit. She hugged him, cried and said happy birthday, oh yeah he turned 20 that day. Not that it mattered but she did bring him a sweater, “in case the place was too cold.” She started talking about their relatives and neighbors. Not that he really cared but he figured she didn’t know what else to talk about. 

He looked around him. Bicep guy was there talking to a woman who seemed to be his mother maybe. Then there was Koyama, he was sitting at a table, hugging himself as usual talking to a woman who looked like his mother and a girl who looked a little older than him, maybe a sister. They both reached for him sometimes as if to touch him only to catch themselves. Koyama really didn’t like to be touched. 

There was also Erika, and he couldn’t help looking at her every time she was close. It was probably the fact that she barely acknowledged him. She was talking to a man, her father probably; they seemed to be arguing in a very low voice in a language Shige didn’t recognized.

His mother was saying something. “He is here to see you. He doesn’t hold any hard feelings for you; he came to show that and to support us.” Then he saw the man walk in. He waited for the face to change, but it didn’t, for the first time he saw the face everybody saw. He didn’t understand what was going on.

The man sat next to his mother, in front of him. “Hello, Shigeaki-kun. Happy birthday. You look well.”

Shige said hello still shocked.

The man turned to his mother and said: “Could we have a moment, my dear? So we can talk man to man.”

“Of course,” answered his mother and stood up. “I’ll see you next visitation day. Uhm… I… love you sweety”

“I love you too, mum.” His mother kissed his forehead and left the room.

“Are you still against our marriage?” Shige just looked down. He didn’t know what to think anymore. The man continued in a low voice, so only Shige could hear what he was saying “Your mother is very worried about that. I really love her and want to marry her. And I don’t like it when I can’t get what I want. So you either agree and say it was all part of your mind as the freak you are or you are spending the rest of your natural life in this place and you know I have the power to do that.”

Shige saw red. He wanted to kill the monster, distorted face or not that’s what he was. He stood up to go for the guy’s throat but something prevented him from doing it. It was Yamashita. Shige struggled against his grip. Yamashita pushed him back and Shige felt a hand on his chest. He looked down and saw Erika looking at him. “C-calm d-down,” she said in a deep voice. She looked behind him and said “C-calm d-down, now.” He looked back and the nurses were coming. Shige closed his eyes and took deep breaths. Concentrating only on his breathing and Erika’s hand on his chest, which was oddly comforting.

“Just apologize. Then we’ll all go back with you.” That was Koyama, who had come close to him.

The nurses were already there. “Is there a problem?” one of them asked. “No,” answered Shige. “I’m sorry.” With that, visiting time was over and Shige went back to the main building with Yamashita and Koyama leading the way and Erika next to him.


	3. Chapter 3

Yamashita and Erika had stopped him before he did something stupid, but he still had to go to an extra session with his doctor. Since he was busy that day, he had the session after dinner. The doctor looked tired and Shige felt sorry he had to stay because of him, and he told him so.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m here for you, to help you. Now would you please tell me what happened?”

“Nothing happened,” Shige answered.

“Only because Yamashita-kun stopped you before you did anything.” Shige debated with himself about whether to tell him the truth about what the man had said but decided against it. As his step father had said, he had power and how much could he trust Kimura-sensei?

“I just… lost it. I’m sorry.”

“Do you still see him with a distorted face?” Shige shook his head. “And how does that make you feel?”

“Confused.”

“Because now you think he might not be a bad man after all?”

“No. He is a bad man. I just don’t know about… maybe they were hallucinations, maybe I am crazy.”

 

After the session he went back to his room, alone. The doctor didn’t think it was necessary to make a nurse escort him, he would go straight to his room, right?

He walked the empty halls. Everybody was already in their room and everything was eerily silent. Then he heard the murmurs, like the one in his room. He looked behind him, nothing. He kept walking but he heard faraway footsteps behind him, again there was nothing when he looked. He kept walking but the footsteps were getting closer fast and getting louder, way too loud to be a person… he had the urge to start running and he was about to, when he heard Tegoshi’s voice.

“There you are! Don’t go running off on us! We were worried, little boy,” he said getting on the tip of his toes to pat his head. Shige moved his hand away. He saw Tegoshi wasn’t alone, Yamashita “biceps” Tomohisa was there. Yamashita sighed and rolled his eyes.

“I didn’t. Hey did you guys hear…”

“Let’s go to the rooms, it’s late,” Yamashita interrupted “By the way, I talked to the boss and you’ll meet him tomorrow.”

Shige was about to refuse when one of the nurses came behind them.

“Oh, no. You guys are not sneaking out again. You are gonna get me into trouble.” It was the man from his first night. What was his name?

“Ryo-kun!” Yup, that was the name. “Why are you being so mean?” whined Tegoshi with a pout.

“I’m not but, again, I don’t want any trouble so forget it.”

“But we always make it worth your while,” said Yamashita.

Tegoshi approached the man and whispered something in the guy’s ear. The nurse opened his eyes wide and said: “Are you sure?” Tegoshi nodded. “Okay, we’ll see.”

“Yay! Thank you Ryo-chan!!” said Tegoshi jumping up and down and then giving the nurse a kiss on the cheek, as he did with pretty much everybody.

“He doesn’t do that to everybody. Just people he likes,” Yamashita said. Shige frowned. Well, it was probably that the way Tegoshi acted was not normal by any standard and he felt the need to explain.

After that, Yamashita went to the room he shared with Fujigaya, which was a few rooms away from his.

“What was that?” He asked

“We’ll talk when…”

“When I meet the boss, ok,” Shige interrupted. Then, they both went to their rooms.

In their room Tegoshi was about to get into bed and Shige was still thinking sitting at the edge of his bed.

“What’s wrong?” Tegoshi asked with a frown. Maybe it would do him good to talk about it.

“I’m thinking about my mum’s visit today.”

“Oh, yeah. Happy 20th Birthday!”

“How did you know?”

“Pi told me, he heard.”

“Oh, well, my mother’s fiance came too.”

“Yes, Pi and Eri-chan told me about it. If you are in here I don’t think you are in much trouble though. They would have put you in an isolated room if it had been bad.”

“It’s not that. You know the faces I see? Well, he has a normal face now. What if I am crazy?”

Tegoshi sat next to him. “I don’t think so. But it’ll be good for you to talk to the boss and then we can talk more. Now go to bed and sleep.” His roommate got up and made him lie down and covered him. He was so tired that he let him.

“I don’t think I can.” Said Shige.

“Okay, then I’ll sing you to sleep!” Oh god, the guy was just too loud! But he started singing in a soft voice: “Wishing on a dream that seems far off, wishing it would come today…” *

Shige frowned. What was with this guy and all the signing? However he said nothing. Tegoshi went to his own bed but continued singing softly.

Shige couldn’t believe it but he did become sleepy and finally fell asleep

 

~~~~~~~

It was difficult, but the shadow made it out. An eternity inside and now it was out and it was what it was supposed to be. The shapeless dark cloud expanded and contracted, as if taking a deep breath. It turned corporeal. Its bones and flesh felt different on the outside. 

It moved its head left and right. The eyes were completely white with a bluish sheen, lidless and sightless. It didn’t need to see, just to feel, sense. With a shriveled up, almost non existant, nose it sniffed and found a scent, a feeling. Madness, that’s what humans called it, the creature remembered. It would have smiled if it had lips covering the blackened pointy teeth. With a shiver it turned into a shadow again. Aahh that was so much more comfortable.

The scent led it through halls and rooms and humans. They all looked good, tasty but it wanted the one. The madness was beneath the surface, barely there but it was so much sweeter when one helped bring it about, it remembered that too. It found the human, female, yes it remembered he had preferred females before being caught and imprisoned.

It tried to enter the room and let out a frustrated yell. The room was barred but it could wait a little longer, it could lure her out, where she was alone and vulnerable. Alone, get her alone. When humans were with company they where closed up. It didn’t know why and it mattered not.

The madness was there, so was the vulnerability and the creature started whispering. The female human would not hear it but her subconscious would. She was dreaming. Again, the creature would have smiled.

 

******

 

The next day Shige had to admit that he was a little nervous and he wasn’t sure at all that he wanted to meet this boss. Yes, Tegoshi seem like a nice guy, in spite of his quirks, and his friends seemed okay. Three of them had stopped him from making a huge mistake. But they were locked up in a mental institution.

So are you thought Shige.

Shige was sitting by himself in one of the couches in the entertainment room when he saw Erika come in. She started to walk to the couch but she hesitated when she saw him. Shige smiled a little and made room for her on the couch. She started walking again and sat next to him but he looked out the window.

“Um… thank you for yesterday.” She nodded. “I would have really done something stupid.” She said nothing. “Do you understand what I’m saying? Do you speak Japanese?”

“I sp-speak J-japanese.”

“I know, I’ve seen you speak to the others. I guess I make you nervous,” shige sighed. “That’s okay, I’ll leave you alone”

“N-no, that’s ok-kay. Stay.” Erika said grabbing him by his sleeve. He settled back on the couch. Erika took a deep breath and said: “D-don’t worry about yest-terday. T-That was not a g-good m-man.”

“No, he wasn’t, and my mum is going to marry him and there is nothing I can do to stop it cause I’m locked up here cause I couldn’t just stop and think before I jumped on the bastard and...” Shige stopped and looked a little embarrassed. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t…”

“That’s okay, I understand.” She said putting her hand on his arm. He didn’t know why but his heart fluttered. And she had said the whole phrase without stuttering, Shige thought. 

He looked at her and said: “Thank you.” She smiled a little, and she had a nice half smile. Like always Shige found himself wishing he could see her whole face.

“Hey! You two are already talking!” Shige heard Tegoshi’s voice say. Erika moved away from Shige making room for Tegoshi to sit between them. “So how was your session today?”

“The same as always, I guess.” The sessions were pretty much as every session he’d had with a few weird questions…

“Today is my turn again! Kimura sensei is my 7th doctor in this institution.” He said.

“What do you mean?” asked Shige and Tegoshi laughed.

“Doctors don’t know what to do with me, so they ask for a transfer. It usually happens after the first time I have an episode. I don’t blame them, they can be scary.”

“Why are you here? You never told me.”

“Split personality disorder and schizophrenia. Same doctors labeled me differently but those two seem to be the consensus”

“You have more than one personality?” Shige asked. Okay his roommate did change moods pretty quickly but, split personality?

Tegoshi only shrugged. “I guess you could say that, in a matter of speaking.” 

“Umm, have I met any of them?”

Tegoshi laughed. “No. Do you want to? You could meet Yuuko.” With that the other guy sat up straight. He put his knees together and rested his folded hands on them. He looked down and looked at Shige from the corner of his eyes. Then, with a breathy, soft and definitely feminine voice he said:

“Hello, Kato-san. I’m Yuuko.” She… he giggled a little. “I wanted to meet you but Yuya wouldn’t let me.” She ended with a little pout. Shige didn’t know what to say. Then Tegoshi burst out laughing. “Oh, god, you should have seen your face!” He just kept on laughing. Shige slapped the other boys arm.

“Jerk,” he said. “You really got me there. Damn I really thought…” Tegoshi kept laughing and of course Erika joined him and soon Shige couldn’t help laughing with them. 

“Oh, and speaking of diagnosis! Shige, guess why Eri-chan is here!” Shige just stared at him. He didn’t know how the girl would react; she didn’t seem comfortable being around him let alone talking about the reason that got her there. But she just rolled her eyes at Tegoshi.

“Come on Eri tell him. Oh, come on, Shige is nice, he won’t make fun of you or anything.”

“I k-know.” She said softly. 

“Ok, I’ll tell him. Hallucinations and paranoia!” He announced as if he had just explained the meaning of life. Shige just stared. “Don’t you see? That’s why you are here, Shige. It’s meant to be, you are perfect for each other!” He finished with a huge smile. Shige just stared lifting an eyebrow. Then he looked at Erika, who just rolled her eye at him behind Tegoshi’s back. “You will realize it soon enough.” He said crossing his arms looking offended.

“What will they realize?” That was Maki. Tegoshi just shook his head. Behind Maki came the rest. Everybody said hello. Yamashita sat at the table (he had stopped referring to him as biceps after he helped him. Mostly) and Maki sat next to him lacing her fingers with his. Fujigaya sat in one of the chairs and Koyama sat next to him, being careful not to touch him.

“Um, Yamashita, Koyama, thank you for your help yesterday,” Shige said with a little bow of the head.

“That’s okay. Don’t worry about it,” answered Koyama while Yamashita nodded.

“No problem. Now, we have to talk about something else. We have to talk about tonight.” Yamashita said. “Tegoshi, do you want to come with us?” 

“Yeah, I think it’s best.”

“Okay. Eri, you too,” Erika nodded.

“Excuse me,” interrupted Shige. “I don’t know if I want to do it. I don’t want any problems, this is obviously…”

“You have to meet him. After what happened yesterday we all agree with Tegoshi and it’ll be good for you to meet him.”

“I know you think so…”

“You won’t get into any problems, I swear,” said Tegoshi. “And it is important.”

“P-please,” Came Erika’s low voice. 

Urgh! “Okay, fine. But I’ll be really pissed off if I get into trouble and I will start screaming for a new roommate,” he told Tegoshi, who just smiled and nodded.

“Someone’s coming,” said Koyama.

Kimura sensei was walking towards them with a young man who didn’t look much older than them.

“Hello, everybody. Tegoshi-kun, you were supposed to come to my office,” Kimura sensei said.

“It’s just that I wasn’t feeling particularly crazy today so it wouldn’t have been all that interesting.” The doctor just laughed at that, and the young doctor just stared a little uncomfortable.

“Sessions with you are always interesting, Tegoshi-kun. Well I wanted to introduce you to Masuda sensei here. I wanted to do it in private but this is fine too. This is Masuda sensei. He will be your new doctor from now on.”

“That was fast. I thought it would take longer for you to want to trade me,” Tegoshi said sounding disappointed.

“I’m not trading you and it’s not about you. I have to manage a lot of things in the hospital and I honestly think that Masuda sensei will be better for you. Masuda sensei, this is Tegoshi-kun”

The new doctor said hello. He sort of had a baby face and he looked kind. Tegoshi stood up and went up to him and, with his regular lack of personal space awareness, got really close.

“Hello,” he said and put his arm on the doctor’s shoulders. “Let’s have our first session. I hope you last.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Here is a link to the song Tegoshi is singing in this chapter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ8nyFGuqBo


	4. Chapter 4

Masuda walked the halls with his new patient. He was nervous; this was his first patient here. He was fresh out of college and he had helped with patients and even held a few sessions, they had never been in a mental institution, they had been mostly depressed business men and a few lonely housewives. But this patient was something else. He had talked to other doctors and all he’d gotten were a few evasive answers to his questions. The only thing they had all agreed on had been the fact that apparently this patient was beyond help. He was told to just medicate him and keep him locked up.

The only one who disagreed was Kimura sensei. He said that yes, the patient was difficult due to his history but he was in no way a waste of time. He had also said that he was quite sure Masuda could help him. What’s more the patient seemed to have had many doctors and they had always asked for the patient to be transferred to another doctor, when they didn’t ask for him to be transferred to another facility. They didn’t tell Masuda exactly why, though.  They just retold everything that was in the chart and after that they got evasive. They also seemed to be afraid of him, but why?

He looked at the boy in front of him. He didn’t look dangerous at all. Yes, patients in this kind of institutions could have extremely violent episodes, but enough to frightened experienced doctors?

Masuda kept thinking about him as “the boy” but, at 19, he wasn’t much younger than Masuda's 24. Masuda knew he was young himself and didn’t have the experience the other doctors here had. He had skipped some grades in high school and started university young and, after disappointing his father who wanted him to be lawyer, he studied psychiatry. He looked at the patient again. His whole demeanor seemed that of a much younger person.

 They reached the office and went in. The patient walked around looking at everything.

 “You know,” the patient said, “I haven’t been in this office, Massu.”

 “I think you should call me doctor…”

 The patient was silent for a second and then he burst out singing at full voice and moving to the music in his head:

 

_Please, please cure me_

_Please, please cure me_

_Please, please cure me_

_Please, please cure me_

_Doctor Jones, Jones -Wake up now_

_Doctor Jones, Jones - Wake up now_

_Doctor Jones, Jones - Wake up now_

_Doctor Jones, Jones,_

_Wake up now!_

_Ah-yippie-yi-yu_

_Ah-yippie-yi-yeah_

_Ah-yippie-yi-yu-ah_

_Ah-yippie-yi-yu_

_Ah-yippie-yi-yeah_

_Ah-yippie-yi-yu-ah*_

 

Still dancing he went to the chair in front of Masuda’s and gave him a huge bright smile.

 “You seem very young to be a doctor, Massu,” Tegoshi said as if he hadn’t just burst into dance and song. Masuda saw all this fighting a smile even through his surprise at the extremely odd behavior.

 Masuda shook himself and recovered from his astonishment and answered with a smile, “Yes, I skipped a few years in high school. And I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to call me Massu…”

 “Yeah, the other doctors didn’t like the nicknames I gave them either.”

 “It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just that it’s not appropriate.” Tegoshi smiled and said:

 “So, did you get the short straw? Or did you use another game to decide?” Masuda frowned. What was he talking about? “Is that how you got stuck with me? A few doctors ago, that’s how they decided who got me.”

 “I’m sure that’s not true.”

 “I know it’s true. I thought Kimura sensei would last longer.” The patient shrugged and added “He was smart; he got out before one of my episodes. Don’t worry I’ll try to avoid the sessions when I’m about to have one so I don’t scare you, okay? I usually I just lock myself in a room anyway,” Tegoshi said all this without a hint of anger or resentment, just matter-of-factly and Masuda didn’t know what to say.  “Of course, sometimes I don’t get much warning, sorry.”

 “I won’t get scared by your episodes.” By the look in his face the patient didn’t believe him. “And even if I do, it’s not something you should apologize for. And I’ll definitely not leave you to another doctor unless I honestly believe someone else can help you more. That might have been the case with your other doctors but I’m not like them.” Masuda was really angry now. It didn’t matter what happened you didn’t treat a person like that and discard them just because things get difficult.

 Tegoshi’s look changed then, it was speculative and he didn’t seem so much like a kid but it went away so fast that Masuda thought he might have imagined it.

 Finally, Tegoshi just shrugged and said: “we’ll see.” Then, he leaned and put his elbow on the desk and his head on his hands and looked straight at Masuda “So, Massu, do you have a girlfriend or wife?”

 “Umm, I don’t think…”

“Cause if you don’t, I have a friend who’s cute. And she is awesome and not crazy at all!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the song in this chapter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1jPUB7gRyg


	5. Chapter 5

Shige was sitting on his bed not sure at all about what was about to happen. The door to the room opened and the night nurse came in.

“Hi, Ryo-kun!” greeted Tegoshi jumping from his bed.

“Here” he said handing him a key. “You guys better not get caught.”

“We swear. Here is the address and all you need.” Tegoshi gave him a piece of paper.

“I’ll leave the doors open. I can’t get to the women’s ward.”

“That’s okay. Thank you, Ryo-kun. Good luck!”

After that they waited a few hours until Tegoshi said it was time.

Everybody was asleep, except for them and Yamashita, who was waiting down the corridor. They left the ward and went into a big office with a low ceiling.

“Is this it?” Shige asked.

“No, Mr. Impatient. We are just waiting for…”

There was a metallic bang. It had been the vent cover crashing to the floor and in the vent itself Shige saw long black hair coming out of it and a pair of white hands grabbing onto the edge. What the hell? It was coming out of it. Unconsciously he got closer to Tegoshi getting ready to get the hell out of there.

“It’s just Erika. God, are you always this uptight?” Yamashita said, as he was getting 2 chairs close to the vent. He got on one and reached his arms to Erika, who had backed up and was now coming out feet first.

Tegoshi was still laughing: “See? Just Eri this time. Though if you see something like that while being alone, run the other way. Just to be on the safe side.” Shige frowned at him.

“What? Things like that happen here?” He asked.

“We’ll talk…” started Yamashita.

“After I see the big boss, so let’s get going so you people can answer a fricking question”

“So grumpy,” said Tegoshi with a pout “You know, Eri is not going to like you if you keep that up.”

Erika couldn’t care less, it seemed. She was putting the vent cover back with Biceps’ help, who muttered under his breath.

The girl came up to them. As usual half of her face was covered by her hair.

“Hi” Shige said.

“S-sorry I sc-scared you” Why was she always so nervous around him that she stuttered? Or was it just that she spoke with a stutter? She put her head down and walked to the door. Oh right, he had just stared at her without answering.

“No, sorry” he called after her “I mean, it’s okay, you didn’t scare me” Biceps snorted.

“Okay, yes I got scared, but it was more the situation than you. I mean you are not…”

Tegoshi started laughing, trying not to make much noise and failing.

“She gets the idea. Let’s go,” Biceps said.

As he left the office, Tegoshi took the lead and started singing in a soft voice and moving his head from side to side:

 

_“We're off to see the wizard, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz_

_We hear he is a whiz of a wiz, if ever a wiz there was_

_If ever, oh ever a wiz there was, The Wizard of Oz is one because_

_Because, because, because, because, becaaaaaaause_

_Because of the wonderful things he does”*_

 

Erika laughed softly and sped up her pace till she was next to Tegoshi and laced her arm around his.

“You know,” she told him, “I like Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

“No, no,” Tegoshi shook his head. “I’m not turning this into a Wizard of Oz tribute.”

She laughed again. “Maybe some other time then.”

“Maybe,” Tegoshi conceded with laughter in his voice.  Erika sighed and put her head on Tegoshi’s shoulder.

Shige frowned a little. Were they together? But then why would Tegoshi say otherwise?

They walked through many halls and went through so many doors and taken so many turns that Shige lost track. The facility was huge. It seemed to have been built for hundreds of people. Why was it so empty then?

“So, where is this boss? Brazil?” he asked.

“No,” answered Tegoshi “in the isolation ward for the violent and dangerous patients.”

Shige laughed a little “You’re kidding, right?” Tegoshi just shook his head. Shige stopped in his tracks. “What the hell? We are going to a violent mental patient?”

Tegoshi turned around “We are all violent mental patients.”

“Yes, fine. But even we are not in isolation! And that guard… nurse, whatever, gave you the keys to his cell? What the hell? What is this place? They give crazy people the key to other crazies’ rooms and let you to roam around?”

The other three were looking at him.

“Are you done with your little tantrum?” Tegoshi asked as if he was a mother talking to a misbehaving son. “Then let’s go. After today we’ll either leave you alone or you can choose for yourself.” Then continuing with his motherly role, he grabbed his hand and pulled until he started walking again.

What had Tegoshi meant by we’ll leave you alone? If this boss guy didn’t like him they would all just stop talking to him? Okay, granted, Tegoshi was the only one who spoke more than a few sentences to him, but he had started to enjoy being in their company. He didn’t feel so alone. And, yes, Erika had only spoken a couple of words to him, except for tonight when he had just stared at her like an idiot and she may or may not be involved with Tegoshi but he was intrigued by her. She covered most of her face with her hair, but what he could see she was far from ugly…

His thoughts were interrupted by Yamashita. “Here we are.”

Shige heard the key turn and the heavy door unlock.

 

~~~~~~~~

The room was scarcely illuminated and there was only a bed in the small space. There was a window with bars and there was a very tall man standing in front of it looking out up to the sky, the moonlight giving him a bluish hue

The four of them went in and Tegoshi locked the door behind them.

“Hello, G,” Yamashita greeted.

The man turned around with a smile. He had black hair with bangs that came down to his face and his eyes were deep blue and they were almost hypnotic. He almost looked surreal, like a video game character, in a way.

“Hello.” Yamashita got closer and bowed. The man bowed back and then patted his shoulder affectionately.

“How is Maki Chan?” He asked

“She is well. She will come next time, she wanted to see you.”

“Good, I want to see her too. How about Fujigaya-kun? And is Koyama-kun better?”

“Fujigaya-kun is Fujigaya-kun,” Yamashita “and Koyama-kun is getting better.”

“Good.” The man looked up at the three of them. Yamashita moved to the side and leaned on the wall crossing his arms. Shige thought the man would speak to him but said: “Erika-chan, it’s been a while.” Erika walked closer to him.

“I know, I’m sorry.”

The man waved away her apology and when she was close enough, he removed her hair from her face and kissed her once in each cheek. How very European of him, thought Shige. Then, with his hands still on the sides of her head and his face way too close to hers as far as Shige was concern, they started speaking very quietly. Shige could barely hear but he did notice it wasn’t Japanese. Erika laughed a little at the end and nodded. Then the man removed his hands letting her hair fall back on her face.

Tegoshi walked up to him next and bowed saying “Konbanwa.”

The man laughed.

“Since when are you so formal Yuya?” He said opening his arms. Tegoshi went into them and hugged him back. The man patted his head affectionately. “How did you like your new doctor?”

Tegoshi stepped back a little: “You know about that? Oh, well, he seems nice enough. I doubt it will last. But I did like him.”

Biceps chuckled and added: “Liked him so much he is already thinking about fixing him with Erika here.”

“Yuya!” Erika said at the same time that Shige blurted out:

“What? I thought I could hit on her!” All of them turned to look at him. “Um, sorry.” He said turning red.

“I said that, but she might reject you and it’s nice to have options. Boss, this is Shige.” Tegoshi said.

“Nice to meet you Kato-kun.” The man greeted, “Could you come a little closer?” Shige did so reluctantly. When he got closer he looked at the man and… wait a minute, hadn’t his eyes been blue before? Well, maybe it had been the lighting because now they were gun metal gray.

“He is one of us, isn’t he?” asked Tegoshi excitedly. The man just looked at him.

“Tell me, what got you here?” The man asked.

“Um, I have halluci…”

“I didn’t ask about your diagnosis,” interrupted the man.

“I, I see people faces change. Not everybody, just some people. And recently I attacked my mother’s fiancé and they put me in here. Well it’s a bit more complicated than that…”

“I see. Have you seen these faces since you’ve been here?”

“No. I’m on medication so I guess they keep the hallucinations…”

“Kimura sensei is your doctor.”

It wasn’t a question but still Shige answered: “Yes.”

“May I touch you?” What? Okay, Shige really wanted to leave now. The man put both his hands at the sides of his head and closed his eyes. After a few seconds he released him and said: “You were right, Tegoshi-kun. And, no, they are not hallucinations, Kato-kun; you really do see people’s true faces. And it is the medication that is keeping you from seeing them now. You will start seeing them again in time.”

“I’m not sure I want to,” answered Shige truthfully.

“It’s what you are, it has nothing to do with wanting. Now, you will have to leave soon today so, I’m afraid I’ll have to give you the bad news fast. You must have already sensed that there is something coming.”

“Something’s been happening since I got here. But it is getting closer… worse, isn’t it?” Tegoshi said in a small voice. The man went up to him and put a hand on his back.

“Yes, you are right. So be prepared, and try not to be alone. Not even Koyama-kun. You will have to figure out a way for him to stay with you even at night, Yamashita-kun.”

“Okay, he won’t like it but we could convince the night nurses to let him back with Fujigaya and I. Ryo-san won’t be a problem.”

“Good. Now the second news is… you medications will stop working.”  The other three paled, especially Tegoshi. The man went on, before the others could say anything. “I know, but you will have to be strong. They won’t stop working from one day to the next, it will be gradual. I will help you as much as I can.”

“Wait a minute,” said Shige. “What is this? How do you know that, are you psychic? I think you are just crazy and they are too for just accepting…”

“I know, it’ll take time for you. I didn’t want to say this in front of you but there was no time.” He turned to the other three. “Tell the others and talk to him. He needs to understand. Something is coming and we all have to be ready. And Tegoshi-kun, no one is to be alone, I mean it.”

 

They were walking back and nobody spoke; they were all pretty shaken up. They finally got to the office Erika had come out of.

“Okay, we go back to our rooms. Do you want to tell Maki? Or maybe it’s better if I tell everybody tomorrow.” Yamashita said.

“No, I’ll tell her,” Erika answered. “You tell Fujigaya kun and Koyama kun.” It was starting to bother Shige that she only stuttered while talking to him.

“I’ll convince Kimura sensei to put Kei-chan with Shige together and I’ll take Kei-chan’s room.” Tegoshi said suddenly.

“Tegoshi, he said no one is to be alone, NO ONE and that includes you.” Yamashita stressed this by jabbing a finger on Tegoshi’s chest, not too roughly though.

“I’m not safe and you know it! It’s not fair to Shige…”

“Then I’ll share the room with you, but you are not staying alone.”

“But…”

“Wait a minute. After all the grief you gave me about not trying to get rid of you and now you are trying to get rid of me?” Shige said. He hadn’t known that other man for much more than a week but he was getting attached.

“It’s not that. You don’t know what could happen if the medicines stop working. It’s bad enough with them.”

“Would somebody please explain!?”

“We will, b-but not t-tonight,” said Erika from a far corner of the room still looking down. “T-tonight we n-need to rest a-and c-cool down b-before we m-make an-ny d-decisions.”

“You are right, Erika. Come I’ll help you up,” said Yamashita.

She started to climb up the vent but lost her footing and fell hitting her head with the chair. Shige and Tegoshi run to where she was and when they got there Yamashita was lifting her hair to look at her forehead. “It’s okay you are not hurt. You can’t see anything with that damn hair on…”

That’s when Shige saw Erika’s face. He made a hissing sound when he took air in. Her mouth was full, though not really big, a rather small nose and then a huge scar that run from above her eyebrow down her cheek and ended at the side of her mouth. It was wide and even run through the eyelid. The wound must have hurt a lot for it to leave that scar, did it affect her vision? Maybe not ‘cause she was looking at him shocked and hurried to cover her face with her hair again.

He was so stupid. As he often did, especially with her it seemed, he just stared. Still he was speechless. She stood up quickly and was about to try to climb back up. Yamashita grabbed her by the waist a helped her up and she was gone and that’s when Shige recovered the ability to speak.

“Wait!” he called out. “Are you really okay, I didn’t mean to…” But she was gone. He turned around and saw Tegoshi looking at him with a frown. Now, he realized what it must have looked like, the big intake of air, him staring at her like an idiot and not saying anything. Of course, she covered her face in front of him, she must have had similar reactions from pretty much everybody and he hadn’t make it any better. But he hadn’t meant to, really, he had just been shocked.

Shige went up the chair about to follow her and apologize but someone stopped him. Shige turned around to see Yamashita. “I have to go apologize; I didn’t mean to make her feel bad or anything.”

Yamashita narrowed his eyes. “The only reason I’m not beating the crap out of you right now is that you seemed really sorry and you will apologize, but not tonight. You can talk to her tomorrow if she wants to. Let’s go.”

  
  


The three of them walked back to their rooms in silence making sure nobody saw them. In their room, Tegoshi and he were sitting on their beds.

“I’m sorry, it really surprised me and… I will apologize.”

“Yeah, you should. A lot of people made her feel bad about it. I know you didn’t mean anything bad. If you had, Pi would have kicked your ass. We are very protective of each other.”

“I noticed. What does it mean that I’m one of you, Tegoshi?”

“Means that if you protect us, we’ll protect you. It means that, like you, we all have special abilities that were confused with mental illness. Some abilities are scarier than others though.” Tegoshi sounded so serious, too serious.

“I never thought I’d said this but I miss hyper Tegoshi. I don’t like seeing you this sad.”

“I’ll be back in the morning,” said with a chuckle. “And we’ll answer your questions, the ones we can answer. Good night, Shige.”

“Good night, Tegoshi.” But Shige couldn’t sleep thinking about everything that had happened; A lot had happened a lot that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tego's song of the chapter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm3ypbAbLJ8


	6. Chapter 6

He had only slept for a few hours. He had spent most of the night thinking about all that had happened. He still wasn’t sure about this “boss” man. They all seemed to take him seriously and he still wasn’t sure they weren’t just a bunch of nut jobs, though his instincts told him that they weren’t. He would wait and ask all his questions and he would at least listen to them.

He got up to see Tegoshi already sitting on his bed.

“You are up already?” said Shige.

“Yes, but I could hear your head working from up here and I didn’t want to interrupt,”he said with a wide smile. He was back, Shige thought relieved. Maybe he had dreamed everything. Yeah, cause his life is just that kind. “And it’s still working.”

“What are you? A mind reader?” asked Shige with a chuckle.

“No, silly. That’s Pi,” the boy answered jumping down the bed.

“Come on. Let’s shower and then have breakfast. Today’s a big day. We will tell you all the secrets!” Yup, he was back.

They went into the showers and Shige asked his first question.

“So what is the reputation of this place?” Shige had remembered one of his first conversations with Tegoshi.

“This is a place for the lost cases and people seldom get out. And for the last years, things have been happening.

“What things?”

“Patients disappear and I don’t mean that they escape. We know that some have died others, nobody knows.”

“Why don’t they close the place down? Or investigate if that is the case?”

Tegoshi shrugged “I only know what happens in here, I don’t know what goes on outside. Maybe it’s in somebody’s best interest not to do anything. Or maybe nobody cares what happens to a bunch of crazy people. We think Kimura sensei might have noticed something, though.”

“Why?”

“Ever since he’s been in charge, he’s transferred people to other institutions. That rarely happened before. Like I told you, we are the ones that are too crazy for the crazy.”

“So you think someone is killing patients in here? Why?”

“I don’t know. And I don’t know if someone or something is doing anything. I’m telling you what we’ve seen. Come on, let’s go have some breakfast.”

“Okay, next question. When I asked if you were a mind reader and you said ‘no, that’s Pi’ what did you mean?”

Tegoshi shook his head. “Nop, that’s Pi’s story. Each of us will tell you our stories but I won’t talk about someone else’s.”

“So you’ll tell me about what you meant when you said that you kinda have split personality and… and the scar on you back? Or is that not part of the story?” Shige was hesitant; he didn’t know how much he could ask really.

Tegoshi hesitated for just a second. “I’ll tell you, eventually. And you can tell your story if you want, as much as you want. But I would describe your ability in detail, that part is important.”

The others came at that moment and sat down at the table. Well everyone except Erika. He was about to ask when Yamashita said: “She will join us later, she wasn’t hungry.”

Oh, well, he would apologize later. Maybe he could ask some questions…

“We’ll talk later, this is not a good place.” What the hell?? Biceps couldn’t be reading his mind.

“Yes, yes I can and stop calling me that, it’s driving me nuts.” Shige just stared at him with his jaw hanging open.

“I told you he was the mind reader.” Tegoshi said. “What were you calling him?”

“Biceps.” Answered Shige without thinking. Tegoshi burst out laughing, and then it was Fujigaya. Even Koyama started laughing and Maki was chuckling discreetly. Yamashita closed his eyes.

“If that catches on, I’m spilling out everything I’ve ever heard from you.” They all just started laughing harder.

“Don’t worry I wouldn’t dream to call you that,” Fujigaya said.

“Yeah, me neither, it really annoys you, I really don’t like that feeling it’s… annoying” said Koyama – what did that mean – and they laughed even harder. The other people in there were looking at them and slowly everybody just stopped laughing but the mood remained a little lighter.

“Well I guess we all needed that. A good laugh I mean,” said Fujigaya and Koyama nodded.

“I told you he was actually funny and not just cranky.” Tegoshi added with one of his big I-told-you-so smiles.

“But, wait. I don’t mean to spoil the fun but… You are a mind reader?” Shige asked.

“Yes and no. There is not much reading involved. I mean it’s not voluntary; things just come to me from wherever. It’s not as bad as it used to be and sometimes I can block thoughts I’m familiar with.”

“Thoughts you are familiar with?”

“Yeah, I don’t know how to explain it really,” he was talking really quietly so no one could hear. “For example, Maki here. I know what her thoughts look like… or feel like, rather and I can just ignore what’s there… sometimes. It’s like knowing a person’s voice and being able to tune it out.”

“Wow. So you've been hearing everything I’ve been thinking?”

“Pretty much. Almost all the time. My… ability is not bound by spatial limits. I hear everything all the time. When I don’t have the medicines anyway.”

Everything all the time? Like, everything? Thought Shige

“Pretty much. Even other languages, but I’m not sure about the real range.”

Yamashita looked down and Shige thought that that was his way of closing the subject, at least for now.

 

They were now in the entertainment room, apart from all the rest, and Yamashita continued with his story.

“I always did hear things but when I was little I could just not care. At first everybody thought I was deaf. The voices in my head were so many and so loud that I didn’t react to most sounds.

“Then they figured out that I could hear. I tried to make them understand about what I heard, the voices. Well, you know how those things go, more doctors and treatment.

“Then, when I was 12 one of the doctors gave me some drug and somehow it opened my mind. If it had been loud before, now it was maddening. So loud it made my head hurt. Apart from the pain I don’t remember much. I know I cried and screamed a lot. They stopped giving me the drugs and it got better but I couldn’t deal with it as before. I became, well, kind of autistic.

“I stayed in a soundproof room. My mum never wanted to put me in an institution so she took care of me at home. My dad left at some point. I don’t really remember when or how it happened. It went on for years. Until, one day, I was 17, a doctor came to my house. I don’t remember his name or his face but my mum decided to hospitalize me. I was taken to another place. I really didn’t care where I was, I didn’t really paid attention to anything. After sometime I was brought here and I started to get better. Apparently, the drugs they give us here for some reason helps us. First I met Tegoshi, of course, he is like the welcome committee all on his own.” He said smiling at Tegoshi, who smiled back.

“Yeah,” the younger man said. “He was a mess. The biceps came later.”

Yamashita rolled his eyes and continued: “Erika was already here too. Maki came later.” He said grabbing her hand and twining his fingers through hers with a smile. She looked up and smiled at him.

Shige thought it was nice, to find someone to love in this place of all places. Shige never thought something like that would be allowed in these places.  

“It’s not allowed. Us,” Yamashita said explained when Maki frowned. “But we keep it low profile and we do get some special treatment. We can get things for the nurses. I mean, I hear thoughts so I have a lot of information in my head. You’ll see about the rest.”

At that time, Erika arrived. Tegoshi scooped over and made room for her in her usual spot in the couch.

“Hi, Eri chan,” Tegoshi greeted hugging her.

“Hi, Yuya.”

“Erika san…”

Erika interrupted: “D-don’t worry ab-bout it. We h-have other th-things t-to t-t-talk ab-bout.” Shige noticed her stutter was worse and he felt like an asshole.

“Okay,” Yamashita said. “Ask away, Shige.”

“So, when did this boss come? And if…”

“One question at a time,” said Yamashita with a sideway smile “the boss was already here when I came and I had a similar reaction to yours when Tegoshi told me about him. Who the hell is that guy? And why boss? And so on. And you know Tegoshi, and Erika wasn’t talking to me yet. So yeah, I was as or more confused than you are.”

“Okay, second question. If Tegoshi and Erika were here before you, then, why are you the ‘Leader’?” Shige actually used his fingers to make the inverted comas; he still wasn’t sure about really calling the guy leader. “Wouldn’t they be kind of your senpais and you know…”

“Oh, that’s easy,” interrupted Tegoshi “we hold elections every 4 years. We hold debates and then we vote.” Shige just stared at the other guy.

“No, he’s not serious” Yamashita answered the question forming in Shige’s head.

“Like with everybody else Tegoshi started calling me “leader this” and “leader that” but I’m not really the leader, that’s just how he introduces me.”

“Okay, and what did everything that happened mean? With the medication and how does he know they will stop working? And what is coming? And…”

“One question at a time,” they all said at the same time.

“Well, they were follow-up questions,” Shige feebly defended himself.

“Okay. There are many things we don’t know. I think there are many things even G doesn’t know, but this is what we do kinda know. This institution has always had a reputation. It’s been running since the sixties and like any asylum there are rumors about what they used to do with patients. From very questionable treatments to experiments and organ harvesting and even a few human sacrifices if you believe what some people say.”

“How do you know all this?” Yamashita raised an eyebrow. “Just another follow up question.”

“I have a brother,” said Fujigaya “I asked him to investigate and he did… for a price.” He said with disgust. Okay, so not really all that close with his brother.

“My older sister did some research, too. After that she tried to convince me to leave.” Koyama added

Convince him to leave? Shige thought.

“Koyama is here willingly. But that’s his story and he will tell you himself if he wants to,” Yamashita said before he could ask. “Anyway. There were rumors of mistreatment and doctors becoming rich by stealing and so on, so it was finally shut down around the beginning of the 80’s when the director of the place and his first hand died. Of course, more rumors about ghosts and people going in and never coming out came. You know, the typical urban legends around an abandoned building. About 15 years after it had been shut down, it was fixed up and reopened by some organization or other. Now the rumors don’t get out.”

“But there is something going on.”

“Yes,” answered Koyama “patients disappear. A lot of the people who end up here don’t have a family or their families don’t… well they don’t care.” He gave Tegoshi, Erica and Fujigaya a sympathetic look. “We know some are dead.”

“How do you know they are dead?”

Koyama looked a little uncomfortable.

“I c-can hear the d-dead.” It was Erika who had spoken. Shige looked at her and turned her head a tiny bit to the side, away from Shige. “Some t-told me who they w-were. N-none of them knew what had happ-pened to them. Others… h-had gone too c-crazy to be able to s-say much.”

“You stay crazy when you die?”

Erika shrugged and said “W-why wouldn’t you? But they g-got worse after they d-died.”

Sure, of course, I’m talking to a mind reader and the female version of the kid in the 6th sense. That triggered another question.

“So what are your abilities? Oh, and what was that about the meds?” Yamashita raised an eyebrow. “Okay, umh, the one about the drugs then, since it seems to bother everyone.”

Yamashita nodded. “First tell us about your abilities.”

“Um well, I see people with distorted faces, I mean, only I see them like that. I figured out that they are not very good people. I’ve seen killers on TV who look… well, I’ve had nightmares just by looking at them.”

“And now?” asked Yamashita even though he already knew.

“I haven’t seen anybody like that. The… that guy said it was because of the drugs, but drugs have never had that effect on me.”

“It’s like that with all of us. The drugs help us control our abilities better. We don’t know why, it’s probably a side effect that doctors are not aware of. So, it’s not that it bothers us, it scares us. If the drug wears off slowly, we might be able to deal with it. We are older and stronger and we are not alone anymore, but it’s still scary.”

Before Shige could keep asking it was time for lunch so the conversation ended with more questions than he had had before.


	7. Chapter 7

Asylum

by Kumohime

 

# Chapter 7

 

Erika and Maki were walking back to their ward. It hadn’t been easy to convince Yamashita that they would be fine just the two of them; he was anxious after talking to G. Erika had to admit she didn’t like walking the halls alone, or even with Maki. However, even if they did enjoy some leave, if they found a man in the women’s ward, there would be consequences.

 

“Are you going to avoid the new guy for long?” She heard the other woman ask. They were walking very close together and Maki had even grabbed Erika’s arm at some point. Probably Maki really wanted to know, but talking would ease the silence of the unused hallways they usually used to avoid being seen as well.

 

“I don’t know what you m-mean.”

 

“You’ve been avoiding him for what? The last week, week and a half.” It had been two, really but who was counting. “None of us care about your scars and I doubt he will either. If he thought anything bad, Tomo would have said something… or be the first in line to beat him up, with Tego second… well no Tego would think in much subtler and meaner ways to make him pay.”

 

Erika simply laughed. She said nothing but she was still reluctant to face the man. She was self conscious about her scars, how could she not, but it was even harder with Shige. For some reason she didn’t want to think about, she couldn’t face his pity or his disgust.

 

“It’s because you actually like him,” Maki continued.

 

Erika’s jaw dropped. “Would you tell your boyfriend to start tuning out my thoughts or at least keep his mouth shut about them.”

 

Maki just laughed. “He didn’t say anything but my guess was right. Are you afraid he won’t like you? Because he does look at you when you are not looking. And you can always ask Tomo what he thinks.”

 

“That wouldn’t be right.” Erika was actually scared that Shige wouldn’t like her, and after his reaction when he saw her… She knew he wouldn’t treat her differently and that he wouldn’t make fun but from that to overlooking her looks and liking her were two very different things. Let alone that it took her an hour to get two words when he was around and he probably thought she was an idiot or something.

 

Lost in her thoughts she didn’t notice, until now, that Maki had stopped walking.  Erika turned around and walked back to her. She was staring at one of the doors.

 

“Maki? What is it?” Her pupils were completely dilated and her voice when she talked had no inflection at all.

 

“Something’s there. It’s coming… for… us… no, for me?”

 

A shiver went through Erika. “What’s c-coming? What d-do you see?” She asked with a shaky voice, her stutter back.

Maki shook her head. “What did I say?” Erika just stared at the other woman, who sagged in her arms. “I don’t know what that was. Maybe I’m just tired. I haven’t been sleeping well.” She finished without sounding convinced.

Erika hugged her but only for a few seconds before she gently took Maki by the hand and led them both back to their room. That place was making her nervous and she wanted to get out of there.

After a while they were in their beds. Erika sleeping and Maki having nightmares she wouldn’t remember when she woke up.

 

~~~~~~

 

The next day Tegoshi was walking with Shige down one of the corridors. Shige had been asking questions but never about Tegoshi’s story. Good, he didn’t want to tell him yet.

“Tegoshi,” said the other man “I… Erika is avoiding me, isn’t she?”

“Yup”

“Would you tell her I’m sorry? I didn’t mean to stare. Tell her not to be angry and let me apologize.”

“She’s not mad, stupid! She’s self-conscious. She thinks now all you see is the scar. She is wrong, of course; otherwise I would have to release my inner beast upon thee.”

“So, before you had a girl inside you and now it’s a beast?” Shige asked lifting one eyebrow.

“Well it’s neither really, though is closer to the beast.” Then, he sighed dramatically “I am beauty and the beast all in one.”

“Or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”

“No! Beauty and the Beast. Trust me, I look cute in a dress and little birds and squirrels follow me when I sing.”

“And you are hairy as well?”

“Okay, you have a point for that one but I’m not really hairy.” Shige laughed with him. “Give her time, she’ll come around. Still, I’ll have to look for someone else for her. Maybe my doctor…”

“Hey! Don’t write me off yet!” Tegoshi smiled slowly and widely.

“So you like her! Got you!”

“I never said that! I mean, I don’t know her…”

Tegoshi stopped in his tracks. There was a loud scream. Both he and Shige started running towards the sound. They got to another hall. There was a man being held by two big male nurses. He was screaming “They are coming for us! I saw them!” Kimura sensei was there too.

Tegoshi saw Erika running towards them. What was she doing running about the place alone? Tegoshi though irritated, he would have to talk with that girl.

“It’s going to be fine. Nothing is coming for you…” Kimura sensei was saying.

“You know, don’t you? Are you one of them? No, I know they are here. They’ve always been here!” Then the man let out another scream, one that made your blood run cold.

“No, no, please, no! No!” He started to convulse and blood started to come out from his nose, his eyes and then his screams started to have a gurgling sound right before blood gushed out of his mouth.

The doctor and the nurses were trying to hold him down but he was convulsing so violently that his arms and legs tensed and moved with apparently amazing strength.

Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. The man lay on the floor like a rag doll. The man was dead.

“Fuck!” said Kimura sensei. He turned around and saw them. At that moment Tegoshi felt a little scared of the doctor. He had never seen that expression on the other man’s eyes. Tegoshi felt Erika’s hand grabbing his and saw Shige get closer to them.

Kimura sensei closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. When he opened his eyes again, he was back to his usual self.

“Are you okay?” he asked. After, the three of them nodded. “I’m sorry you had to see this, we will talk about it to make sure you are okay. Tegoshi-kun, you have a session with Masuda sensei, don’t you? Do you want to have the session?”

He wasn’t sure of his own name at that moment, so he just nodded.

“Good. Erika-chan, Shige-kun, would you go with him? Then go back to your rooms or maybe the garden. Fresh air will do you good. And I don’t think you should be alone right now. I’ll go find you later to talk. And, please, don’t say anything about this yet.”

Even though he had said please, it was an order. Again the three of them nodded and walked away as in a daze.

It had been surreal, to say the least, even in this place. Tegoshi had heard screams, had seen people go crazy… or crazier but, what had happened to that man?

He walked holding Erika’s hand tightly. She was holding just as tightly and Shige was walking really close to them. They finally arrived to Massu’s office.

Tegoshi wanted to see the doctor even if he wasn’t sure he could talk about what he had just seen. The other man had a peaceful and cheerful aura around him.

He stopped in front of the door and turned to Erika.

“You will stay with Shige, right? You won’t stay alone, will you?”

“I’ll st-stay w-with him.” Tegoshi nodded, knocked on the door and went in.

Massu (he knew he shouldn’t call his doctor that, but since when did he care about what he should and shouldn’t do?) was sitting on his chair and was closing his cell phone.

“Hello, Tegoshi-kun. Please sit down”

Tegoshi sat down trying to think something to say but couldn’t. So he just sat there with his arms around his knees. There, that was crazy enough right?

“Kimura sensei just called me. Do you want to talk about what you saw?”

“I don’t know what I saw,” answered Tegoshi.

“Talking about things usually helps. You can say anything; it doesn’t even have to make sense.”

“I know that, I’m crazy, nothing I say has to make sense.” Massu just look at him with kind eyes. He had very kind eyes… pretty eyes. Tegoshi stopped thinking right there.

“How do you feel about what happened?”

“Scared,” Tegoshi answered truthfully.

“Just because he died, or is it something else?”

“It’s something else but you wouldn’t understand.”

“You could try me.” Massu said with a smile. Tegoshi looked away. He had such a nice smile. He heard Massu moving around and then he felt a hand on his shoulder and his heart skipped a beat. “You really can really tell me whatever you want, I won’t judge you.”

Tegoshi laughed at that. “You job is to judge me.”

“The others have already done that. Your record is filled with diagnosis given by doctors who, honestly, have much more experience than me. So what if we try this, we’ll talk about anything you want. You can even ask me questions as long as I can ask you questions and we see how it goes.”

Tegoshi narrowed his eyes. “Okay. Will you tell me how you got stuck with me? Which game did you lose?”

“I honestly didn’t lose any game. Kimura sensei called me and said he was giving me my first patient. And to be honest I have no idea why. Like you said you’ve have more doctors than anyone I’ve heard of and I doubt I have the experience needed and everything I can think of has already been tried. So maybe we can try something new. Things come to worse, you can ask for another doctor for a change.”

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad… Maybe.

 

~~~~~~~

 

Tegoshi went inside and he was left alone with Erika.

“You want to go to your room?” He asked. It was his opportunity to apologize but still he hesitated.

Erika shook her head. “Y-you c-can g-go. Go down that c-corridor, the second d-door, there’ll be p-people there so you won’t b-be alone.” With that she started walking in the other direction.

“Wait.” She kept walking and Shige followed. They ended up outside, in the garden. Erika got out and sat on one of the benches with her head on her hands.

Shige got closer and asked: “Are you okay?”

“Yes, you can g-g-go, you don’t h-have to stay.”

“Okay, I know you are mad at me and you probably don’t want to be around me but we are not supposed to be alone and everyone seems really serious about it so I’m not leaving you alone.”

“I’m not m-mad at you. W-why w-would I b-be?”

“Well, the other day, when you fell…”

Erika shook her head. “It’s ok-kay. I understand, I kn-now how I l-look, not a p-pretty s-sight.” She took a deep breath and again put her head on her hands, she was shaking a little.

“It’s not...”

“He is s-stil sc-creaming.” What was she talking about? He couldn’t hear anything…

“Oh, you mean that guy.” She nodded. Shige put a hand on her back and moved it soothingly up and down. She didn’t pull back.

“H-he k-keeps saying no, no and another word I don’t really understand. He’s g-getting closer and l-louder.” She leaned a little on him. “H-his so l-loud.” Shige put his arms around her and just held her, there was nothing else he could do. All this was way out of his league.

After a while, she stopped trembling. “He’s gone,” she said. For a moment or two Shige didn’t let go and she didn’t move away. Finally they ended the embrace.

“Are they always so loud?” Shige asked.

“No, not always. It depends really. My ability is not as bad as the others’”

“Yeah, I guess mine either. I can ignore the faces if I want to, mostly, that’s what I’ve done most of my life.”

“How so?” She asked and like that Shige was telling the story of his life for a second time.

Finally he ended. “So like I said before, I’m stuck here and I don’t know if my mum’s okay or not until next visitation day. And if something happens to her it’ll be my fault for getting locked up. Sorry I ended up talking about myself.”

Erika smiled. “It’s okay. And it’s not your fault. I know how you feel, trust me, but none of it is your fault.” She was looking up at him her hair covering most of her face. Shige unthinkingly reached out to move her hair away but she cowered away and stood up. “We b-better go g-get Tegoshi, his s-session must be almost over by n-now.” She started walking and Shige followed a little disappointed.

When they went inside neither of them saw the almost translucent figure that followed them inside.

 

 


	8. Chapter 8

Kimura sensei talked to them, as he’d promised but he hadn’t given them any information. The man was very ill and together with his mental illness had caused the nervous breakdown and the heart attack which had killed him.

As far as Shige and the others knew that had not looked like a simple heart attack. The good thing was that Kimura sensei agreed to let Koyama sleep in Yamashita’s and Fujigaya’s bedroom for now. What seemed weird to Shige is that he had agreed immediately without any real explanation. When he asked about it Tegoshi answered:

“Yeah, I thought it was weird too. I mean we’ve always have privileges. Mostly we bribe nurses and even some doctors. Pi can get info from people’s heads and Erika can get information from the ghosts.”

“What kind of information?”

This time Erika answered:

“It depends. With Nishikido san is either quick cash or a way to p-pick up a nurse or worker he likes. Yamashita reads what she likes and we tell Nishikido san. Then the g-ghosts sometimes know where money is hidden, account numbers, etc. We only g-give him information that won’t hurt anybody. Well, except for the nurses when he sleeps with them and then he never calls back. But they get over it,”  she said this with only a slight stutter and she had a slight accent, Shige noticed. He had heard her before but without the heavy stutter it was easier to pick up.

“So they know what you guys can do?”

“Not really. We don’t tell them how we get the information and they don’t ask. I guess they are more comfortable not knowing,” said Tegoshi. “Though I think Ryo-kun might be on to us, but again, as long as we give him good information he is happy to look the other way.”

They went to get the others and found an empty office in an unused part of the building. These guys really knew their way around the place and how to get there without being noticed.

The three of them told what they saw and what had happened. Erika told them about the man still screaming after he had died (though not about the garden… of course not, there was nothing to tell)

“What was he screaming?” asked Maki.

“He kept saying no and… an-nather w-word.” She hesitated.

“The same word as the others?” She nodded.

“What word? What others? Do you guys have to be so cryptic?” asked Shige crossing his arms over his chest. He hated not understanding.

“Don’t be a grouchy old man,” said Tegoshi. “We will explain.”

“Well you are taking your sweet time.”

“Some things are not easy to talk about,” said Maki.

Shige looked down. “Okay, sorry. But can you explain this?”

“Remember that we told you that many patients disappear and that we know some are dead? Well, we know they are dead because Erika heard some of them. None of them knew what had happened to them but they kept repeating one word: ‘Suzerain’. We don’t know what it means.” Explained Yamashita.

After that it was decided that Yamashita would go with Koyama and Maki and talk to the boss and see if he could figure something out.

 

~~~~~~~

 

Late that night, Yamashita was walking back from talking to the boss. He had said he had no idea what that word might mean and Yamashita couldn’t tell if he was saying the truth or not since, as always, he couldn’t hear his thoughts even if he tried and he hated it in moments like this.

The boss had helped them countless times and he had been put in isolation for doing something good actually so Yamashita wasn’t sure why he felt this way.

He was scared. That was the bottom line. He was afraid that something really bad was going to happen and he wouldn’t be able to protect them. They were his family. Of course he loved his mother and sisters but he had never been able to talk to them. Before he was hospitalized he couldn’t even tell they were in the room and after… well, how much can you talk to someone who thinks that you are completely crazy?

No, this was his family. His brothers and sister and Maki… Instinctively he brought her closer to him and held her tight. If anything happened to her…

“What is it?” She asked in a whisper. Usually there was no one around at this hour, but why risk it.

“Nothing.”

“Don’t lie,” said Maki.

“It’s nothing new. I don’t like what is happening. I still think we should try to leave this place before something bad happens.” He said loud enough for only Maki to hear but not the other two were walking ahead of them.

“We can’t leave. What are we going to do outside? We have no one, not even our families. They would bring us back here.”

“We would figure something out. I don’t want anything to happen to anyone. I don’t want anything to happen to you.” He said softly.

Maki stopped him and looked up at him. “We’ll be fine,” she said firmly with both her hands on his cheeks and she kissed him softly. He kissed her back.

“Maki, I know something is happening to you. You are not sleeping…”

Maki kissed him again. “It’s probably the drug wearing off. If it gets worse I’ll tell you.”

“Hey! Someone’s coming.” He heard Koyama whisper. They run to one of the empty offices and opened the doors, which were always unlocked in this part of the building.

They heard two people talking.

“Did you take care of Subaru-san?” It was Kimura-sensei

“Yes. He had no family so there weren’t any problems. Ueda is starting to show the same symptoms, so is…” And the voices were too far away to distinguish words.

They stayed still for a while and then left the office and returned to their rooms in silence.

 

~~~~~~

 

They were all sitting together and Yamashita was telling them about what had happened the night before.

“Who is this Ueda guy?” Shige asked.

“He is a patient here. He has the room next to yours.” Now, Shige remembered him. he hadn’t really talked to the guy but Tegoshi had pointed him out.

“Yes,” added his roommate. “He wasn’t doing so well, about a week before you came, he seemed to be missing sleep. I tried to talk to him about it and he just acted all mysterious saying something about dreams and that I wouldn’t understand.”

“And the boss didn’t know anything,” Shige said but Yamashita hesitated.

“No, he didn’t,” he finally answered.

“But…”

“He just said he didn’t know the meaning of the word and that he would tell us when he knew more.”

Shige frowned.

“But he was lying.” They all looked at Koyama. “You think so too, right Pi?”

Yamashita took a big breath and nodded. “Yes, that’s what I felt. And he feels guilty about it.”

“Wait, can’t you read his mind and tell if he’s lying?” Shige asked.

“No, I’ve never been able to read him. It happens with some people. Kimura sensei is the same and Tegoshi is difficult to read… though maybe it’s because his head is usually a mess… sorry.”

“That’s okay,” the other man said. “My head is a mess.”

“But you both think the guy is lying,” Shige said.

“I felt guilt and something else; I think he’s not telling us everything” Koyama explained.

“I’m sorry Tegoshi,” started Yamashita. “I know you trust him and I do too but…”

“He is lying. I know. I’ve been thinking about it for some time. And if Koyama’s felt it I believe him. He might have a good reason, though.” He sounded sad.

“I’m sorry, but what do you mean with ‘you felt guilt’?” Shige asked to remind the rest that he didn’t read minds and he didn’t know what the hell they were talking about.

“Tegoshi didn’t tell you about me?” Shige shook his head. “Well, I’m an empath. I can feel what everyone around me is feeling. It’s overwhelming when I touch the person or if I’m too close to them.”

“And you can feel the feeling of the boss, Kimura sensei and Tegoshi?”

“Yes, Tegoshi’s head may be a mess but I only feel the feeling not the reason behind it.” He took a big breath. “Come on, I’ll tell you the story, but not here. Come, walk with me.”

 

~~~~~~~

 

March - 1961

 

The man went into the ramen place and sat down.  It was getting late, the negotiations for the purchase of the land had taken longer than expected and he was hungry. It didn’t matter, he had gotten the land and the construction at the site would start as soon as his people could manage it.

He looked around, the place was run down but clean. The city was small but it seemed like it might thrive in the future. It really was of no interest to him but he figured it wouldn’t hurt.

And old man approached the table and greeted him he ordered and then started to eat.

“So, what brings you here, sir?”

He looked up at the old man. “I just purchased a piece of land about an hour from here.”

The man’s eyebrows shot up. “So you are moving in?”

“Eventually. But I’m a doctor. My name is Shigo Katori.” He bowed his head and the old man bowed back. “I’m going to build an institution here.”

“Well that’s good news, though we do have a hospital rather close, about a half an hour going north.”

Shingo smiled. “I see. But it’s not that kind of hospital. It’ll be a psychiatric hospital.”

“Will it now? And where is it going to be? Folks here won’t be too happy having freaks running around.”

“They will not be running around. They’ll be cared and tendered for. It will also bring jobs.”

“Mm. In my day, you took care of your own not send them out to strangers.”

“I understand many think like that but…”

“I didn’t mean to offend you, sensei. But I am still curious, where are you planning to set this institution of yours?”

“The lot about an hour of here to the way of the mountains.”

The other man visibly paled. “Sensei, you better not go there. The place is cursed. Some say it is the very gate to hell.”

Shingo repressed a smile at the local superstition. He didn’t do a very good job.

The older man shook his head. “People these days. That place is bad news. You better believe me.”

Shingo decided to just change the subject; superstitions were usually very rooted in these small cities and an argument would get him nowhere. “Excuse me,” he asked after he paid. “Do you know where I can spend the night?”

The man sighed but gave him directions.

He walked to the small inn, still smiling at the silly fear in the man’s eyes. No superstition would deter him from his dream. He would use his fortune to build the biggest, most modern psychiatric institution.

He asked for a room and went to bed.

They would have the latest innovations, the best doctors in the country. He would have to contact his partners and tell them that the place was perfect. He hadn’t been sure at first but when he went to the site he knew. That was the right place.

He would talk to his wife too. They would have to move with their two sons.

The old man’s words rang again in his ears.

Superstition, nothing more.

Yes, nothing more.

The place is perfect.

Yes, of course, perfect.

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

Shige followed Koyama to the yard. It was a wide space surrounded by tall walls and there were benches all around. It wasn’t cold but not really warm yet either so there was no one outside. Koyama sat down and Shige kept his distance.

“It’s okay, you can sit on the same bench,” he said with a smile. “We are alone out here and you are not affected by so many emotions.”

“Eh?”

Koyama chuckled. “Yes, you have conflicted emotions towards certain people. Out here, you are just curious and a little confused. Oh, and cranky.”

Well he was feeling all of those things and they were all intensifying.

“Okay, I’ll tell you my story, there is not that much to say. It wasn’t always this bad. When I was little I didn’t even realize that I was different. Everybody just thought I was a sensitive child. I could always feel how others were feeling but it didn’t overwhelm me, I could tell my feelings from other people’s.

“My life went on uneventfully; you may even say it was boring. Then, one day when I was 17 I felt something. I was on the school bus going on a field trip with my school. There were 30 of us in the bus. Behind us there was another bus with other 30 or so students.” Koyama smiled sadly. “I was sitting next to my girlfriend, Lina. She was my first girlfriend and the only one really. We had been friends since the first year and I had finally plucked up my courage to ask her out. I admit that the fact that feeling she liked me too helped. 

“Anyway, I was sitting next to her and she was talking about her baby brother, I think, when I started to feel something. It was getting more and more intense. It was… rage, incredible rage and something more I couldn’t identify at the time since I had never felt it. It was getting bigger and bigger and soon that was all I could feel. I tried to see… feel where it came from. I felt the feeling of thirty people and still that other feeling was drowning them. Then I found it. It came from the front of the bus. I stood up, I could feel my girlfriend’s confusion but I kept on walking slowly towards the front. The driver it was coming from the driver. The anger and that other feeling which was starting to override everything else. I realized what it was too late. 

“We were in an isolated road, next to the woods. The driver started to speed up and suddenly he turned the bus around and went straight for the other bus. I swear I heard weird voices whispering and then that feeling again mixed with the fear of everyone inside. The driver swiveled at the last second and it crushed against the other bus from the side. I was thrown on the opposite direction. 

“I think I passed out for some time. I woke up to screams and the sound of gunshots. I had no idea what was happening but I started to move. I saw the bodies of my classmates, I didn’t know whether they were dead or alive. I finally found my girlfriend I called her name and she slowly opened her eyes and started to move. She was okay, but I was starting to feel pain, incredible pain. Of course, I was feeling the pain of all the people in the crash. 

“I heard the shots again. Who was shooting? The feeling I had felt before was getting closer. I forced myself to move and I must have told her to follow me ‘cause she did. We climbed out of the wreck and when I turned around I saw the reason for the shots: the driver was shooting at every survivor. 

“I just stood there, the fear and the pain were too much. I felt a hand grabbing mine and pulling me to the forest and we were running. As we got farther away from the crash the feeling of the other people also got farther away. 

“Finally we collapse behind a big tree trunk breathing hard. She was crying and I felt her fear together with mine and her leg hurt.I couldn’t even speak but I hugged her and all I could feel were her feelings. She was scared and in a little pain, but there was also comfort. Then I felt it again, the same feeling, he had found us. I told her to be quiet and we were too scared to even breathe. The feeling got stronger and stronger and I started to hear the whispers again. And then everything is just a blur, my head was filled with the whispers and the man’s feelings. I heard her scream and shots and more shots and screams and pain and then everything went blank and only the whispers were left.

“I woke in the hospital and started screaming. I felt everything, EVERYTHING. Guilt, anger, angst, pain, sadness, happiness even lust coming from some doctor with a nurse. It had never been like that before and I didn’t know how to handle it. They kept me under anesthetics for days because as soon as I woke I would start screaming. Eventually I stopped screaming but things didn’t get better. Everybody thought it was because of the trauma. I couldn’t even speak through all the emotions. Finally I was discharged but I was practically catatonic. 

“I stayed in my room, eventually I could tell my parents that I wanted to have it padded, and they did. And I just stayed there, cowering away when anybody entered. It was just too much. A couple of years went by and I lost contact with everything and all I felt was the emotions of the people around me. I could even feel my family’s desperation. I mean they loved me but I was ruining their lives. Then, one day, a doctor came I said that I should be institutionalized. He was not the first, but my parents refused to lock me up. I was one of my “good” days, the emotions were not so bad, so I heard everything and decided I wanted to come. Maybe if I was in an institution, isolated I could be in peace. The doctor was Kimura sensei and he brought me here. It was the right decision, in spite of themselves my parents felt relieved and they are mostly happy now, I can feel it when they come see me.”

“So, what happened to your girlfriend?”

“The driver shot her. She died in the hospital before I even woke up. The worst part was the comfort I had felt coming from her. Probably she felt safe being with me and I couldn’t protect her. The driver shot me too but one of the bullets scraped my head.” He lifted his hair and showed Shige a scar. “The other went through me without hitting any major organ. I learned the story after some time of being here. The man was caught by the police seconds after I was shot. He said that the voices of the gods told him to do it, that it was the only way to stop the anger and pain, whatever that means.”

“But you heard the murmurs, didn’t you?”

“Yes, that was the only time I’ve heard anything like that. Maybe the voices were real. Doesn’t really make any difference. The man killed himself before the trial.”

“I’m so sorry.” Koyama shrugged.

“It’s not your fault. Anyway, things got better here. The medication actually helps and well I have friends. So things were good. I thought I would get peace, instead I got Tegoshi.”

“He was your roommate too?”

“No, I’ve stayed in a room alone most of the times but when Tegoshi hears there is someone new he always checks him out to see if he is like us and once he adopts you there is no turning back. Yamashita, Maki and Erika, of course always with Tegoshi, were already here and the rest went pretty much how it went on with you.”

“They are pretty close... I mean Erika and Tegoshi” Said Shige, he wasn’t sure if he was curious or jealous… na, he couldn’t be jealous, he had no reason to.

“They have been here the longest and they have been through some things together, but they are just friends they are not interested in each other like that. And Erika will come around; she’s always the one who takes the longest to trust someone new.” 

Koyama chuckled softly and tried to cover it. Shige decided to change the subject.

“So, now, that the drugs will supposedly stop working… you could just leave, right? And with all the things going on…”

“I guess I could, but I won’t. And the drugs… well maybe I’ll be able to handle it again, like before. I guess we’ll see. We should go back in.” They both got up. Koyama hesitated.

“Is something wrong?” Shige asked.

Koyama took a few seconds to answer and said: “No, it’s nothing. Let’s go.”

For a moment, it seemed to Koyama that the murmurs were back, but it had been only a second. He was wrong. Yes, he was wrong…

 

*********

September 1961

The man went to work in the construction site. He knew it was going to be an insane asylum and he wasn’t sure he was comfortable with that. All those dangerous people so close to town didn’t sit well with him and people there had always avoided this part of the land telling stories about it. Not that he believed any of the stories.

But anyway, he hated the work and his wife wanted him to quit but they needed the money.

As soon as he was in the work place the headache began. He was so tired of the headaches. Day in and day out, the headaches would not let out.

He worked all morning through the pain. At midday he tried to eat his lunch but the headache had unsettled his stomach and he couldn’t even get two bites down.

He couldn’t ask to be allowed to leave anymore. He had done that too many times already so he just went on.

He knew he was working, but his brain didn’t really register what exactly he was doing. The only thing he could focus on was on a couple of workmates talking a few feet away.

What are they doing?

They should be working. And they are making you headache worse.

Yeah. So much worse. Why do they have to be so loud while I’m doing all the work?

If they shut up the headache will stop and you can go home to your wife. Hug her, kiss her. How long has it been?

Too long.

The men let out a shrill laugh and before he knew what he was doing he grabbed the sledge hammer lying next to him and walked up to the men.

One swing and one collapse on the floor. Two swings and the other fell from the four story construction. He died long before he hit the ground, before he even started to fall.

He then proceeded to put the sledge hammer away and walked calmly out. He walked home and smiled at his surprised wife. He hugged her and kissed her.

“It’ll be fine, now. The headache is gone.”

Two hours later the police came to take him away.


	10. Chapter 10

That night Shige was walking back to his room with Tegoshi.

“So, Kei-chan told you his story.” He asked. Shige nodded.

“Will you tell me yours too?” Tegoshi was silent for a while.

“I will,” he finally said. “Not now, though. Oh, hey, that’s Ueda.”

The guy had long shaggy hair and he was really thin. Shige could see deep dark bags under his eyes, which were bloodshot on better inspection. He was leaning against a wall, talking to himself. Tegoshi went up to him and gently put his hand on the other man’s arm.

“Are you okay?” He said. The other shook his head swatted Tegoshi’s hand.

“They are coming for me,” he said. Then he looked up straight to Tegoshi’s eyes. “Why me? Why not you? You are crazier and they like crazy. Yes, crazy is good.”

“They? Who are they?” His roommate asked.

“They! They! They start small and then it’s too late, they have you. They know… you know too, don’t you? How do you keep them away? Tell me, please!” The man pleaded grabbing Tegoshi by his shirt.

Shige was about to help out, but the younger man took Ueda’s hands and said calmly: “I don’t know what you are talking about. But tell me, who are they, we’ll try to help you.”

The other man gave out a desperate moan: “I should have gone with you. You are protected, they don’t go to you. I should have just stayed with you and I would be protected too. Tell me how to drive them away and I’ll be your friend, I’ll go with all of you, I swear.”

“What’s going on?” one of the male nurses said. Shige turned around and had to rub his eyes. The man’s face was… hazy. The lines of the face were blurred out. The eyes seemed to have different lines giving them different shapes at the same time. At first he didn’t know what was going on but as the other man got closer, it dawned on him. They had been told the drugs would stop working and that’s probably what was happening. He still couldn’t see the face completely distorted as he would have before but it was getting to that, probably. And he was glad.

He got closer to Tegoshi and said: “We have to get inside.” Tegoshi looked at him with a frown but as soon as he saw Shige’s face he just nodded.

Shige said to the guard, “He wasn’t feeling well, we are just helping him to his room.” The man narrowed his fuzzy looking eyes and said.

“Okay, but hurry.”

“Go to sleep and you’ll tell us everything tomorrow. We’ll try to help you, I promise.”

Ueda nodded and went inside his room and they turned around and went to theirs, all the time the nurse was watching them.

 

In their room, Shige and Tegoshi were silent.

“What the hell was that?” Shige asked.

“I’m a medium, not a psychic,” Tegoshi answered

“You’re a medium? What’s that?”

“Not the time. What happened to you?”

“Um, I’m not sure but I think the meds are wearing off. I didn’t see the face as I saw them before but, yeah it was definitely that. That guy is bad news.”

“I know. I never really liked him.”

Tegoshi didn’t say anything about the medication not working, but if it was happening to him it was probably happening to everybody.

“We better go to bed,” the younger man said.

 

That night, was not a good night.

 

A loud knock on the wall woke Shige up. He opened his eyes and heard another, louder, knock. He heard Tegoshi moving in his bed.

“What is that?” Shige asked.

“I’m not sure, but it’s been going on for a while. Something’s wrong.”

“What’s wr… ” he was interrupted by a loud inarticulate scream that made the hair at the back of his head stand. It was followed by another scream, just as terrifying as the first. Both screams came from different people. Ueda and his roommate. Shige got up and saw Tegoshi do the same thing. The screaming and banging got a lot worse. Outside, they could hear people running. Through the small window in the door they saw nurses and the on call doctors passing by. By the sound of it, they were trying to open the door but couldn’t.

One of the voices got quiet. One final shout and then everything was silent. Even the doctor and nurses were quiet…

“Ueda?” Tegoshi said. Nothing. “Ueda!” he screamed, and by now Shige knew how loud Tegoshi could be. That seemed to set everything in motion. The people outside started to try to open the door again. It opened easily this time.

“What the fuck!” They heard someone say. Then there was the sound of someone being sick and then another voice, one of the doctors.

“Get everybody back to bed and cover the viewing windows. They don’t need to see this.”

Nobody slept after that. Shige and Tegoshi just sat side by side, much like everybody else in the ward, and said nothing till morning while they heard people outside coming and going, cleaning up whatever it was that had happened in the next room.

~~~~~~

“I could go in the room and try to see something.” Fujigaya said.

“No,” everybody answered at the same time. Fujigaya rolled his eyes.

“I won’t touch anything with blood on it, just something to give us an idea of what happened.”

“No. I don’t know exactly what happened but it was gruesome. You cannot risk it,” Yamashita said.

“And there was pain, so much pain,” Koyama added.

“But I can give us an idea of what happened.”

The three men’s room was in front of Ueda’s. They had told the rest that all they could see was a dark room and blood, then the window was covered and that was all. But Koyama had felt something even before it had started.

 

_“Pi, Pi,” Koyama whispered. “Pi, wake up. Something is happening.”_

_“What?” The other man asked rubbing his eyes._

_“Something is happening. I feel anger and… pain and there are murmurs. Something’s happening.”_

_Yamashita woke up with that and sat up on the bed. Fujigaya, in the upper bed, woke up and sat up too._

_“Murmurs, what do you mean?”_

_“Like the ones I heard before… in the accident… they are like that.”_

_“What’s going on?” Fujigaya asked._

_Yamashita looked up and was about to answer when Koyama grabbed his head and cowered into one corner of the room and the bangs started and then came the screams. Yamashita and Fujigaya ran to the door._

_They knew the screams were coming from a room in front of them. It wasn’t Tegoshi or Shige, thank god. Then they saw the nurses and doctors run and stop in front of Ueda’s room. They couldn’t open the door. Then the screams stopped and everything was silent._

_“Ueda?” They heard. It was Tegoshi. “Ueda!” He said louder. They pushed and the door opened easily. The lights went on and all they could see was blood._

_“Get everybody back to bed and cover the viewing windows. They don’t need to see this.”_

_They couldn’t see anything after that. They turned to Koyama. He was still squatted in the corner and his cheeks were wet._

_“Can I get closer?” Yamapi asked softly. Koyama nodded._

_“The pain is gone now, so are the murmurs.”_

_“Come on.” He helped Koyama up and helped him to his bed. They sat side by side with Fujigaya in front of them and they just stared at each other._

~~~~~~

“I’ll be fine. I’ll touch…”

“It’s too risky. What if you get hurt?” Maki said.

“I’m sorry,” interrupted Shige. “Would you please explain to the new guy what it is he wants to touch and why and why it’s dangerous?”

“I can see the past by touching things. If I touch something I have visions, people who used it; sometimes even images of what happened around it.”

“Visions?”

“Yeah, it’s not always the same. Sometimes it’s like I’m watching a movie, other times it’s like I’m sort of living it… like in a vivid dream, for me it takes a long time, but in reality it’s just a few seconds. And a few times… I really experience it. For example if a person cut themselves with their knife and I touch it, I may get a cut myself. That rarely happens, I think the object has to be related to something extremely traumatic that’s why it doesn’t happen often but when it does… well, it isn’t pleasant. It’s what got me here really.”

Fujigaya took a deep breath and rolled his eyes before he continued.

“My father runs an antique shop. It had been my grandfather’s but when he died my family moved in to take over. I tried not to touch anything but sometimes I bumped into things and had visions… sometimes a little more. That was when teachers at school started to notice cuts and bruises and even scars. They asked where I’d got them and I knew I couldn’t tell the truth so I came up with excuses. Eventually they reported it, I was 13.

“They investigated and they decided to take me away. I was sent to a foster home for a while. After sessions, interviews and I don’t know what else, I went back home. I really tried not to touch anything but well… Eventually, they said that my parents weren’t doing that and figured I was doing it to myself. My family, my mom, my dad and my older brother all hated me by then. They figured I was hurting myself to get attention and to get them into trouble. You see, my parents were never physically abusing but they weren’t exactly warm and caring. I don’t know… I never felt like part of the family really.

“Anyway, I ended up in a center and I was monitored. One night I went to bed and apparently the previous owner of the sheets had cut himself on them. You would think after all the blood the people of the center would throw the sheets away, but no, they just washed them and put them on my bed. He had been really disturbed. He was feeling so much pain inside that he just started cutting himself and well…” Fujigaya lifted his shirt and sleeves to show Shige the scars. They weren’t very deep or big but there were many.

“Not all of them are from that episode, but many are. Needless to say after that I was permanently hospitalized—never mind that they never found a knife or anything I could have used to cut myself. More therapy, more drugs and eventually they told my family that I could come home but they actually refused to take me in.

“I ended up at a youth center and I continued with the therapy. I had a nice doctor who I ended up trusting. I caved one day and told him what was happening to me. He seemed to understand and in our next session he brought a knife with him. He told me it was a knife used at a crime scene and he wanted to test me. I didn’t want to but he had been the only person to listen or cared so I did it. And nothing happened. I told him that if that knife had been in the crime scene it had nothing to do with the crime. He just nodded and went on with the session.

“That day, before I left, I saw a weird sculpture. I had seen it before and it had always caught my eye. ‘You like it?’ he asked, ‘my wife made it, she’s a bit of an artist.’ I nodded and reached to touch it and then I was in the floor looking up to a dark shape. I was crying and the shape came closer, he had the sculpture in his hand. It was the doctor. He swung the heavy sculpture and the vision ended, the side of my head started bleeding and the doctor saw the wound come out of nowhere. I looked at him, ‘you… you…’ he called one of the nurses and they took me out. Next thing I know I’m a danger to myself and others.

“After some time, a doctor came to see me and he transferred me here. It was Kimura sensei. My family stopped coming to see me after about three months and my brother shows up when I call but for a price.”

They were silent then.

“He’s still curious,” said Koyama. Fujigaya chuckled.

“Then ask. I don’t mind.”

Okaayy, where to start?

“What happens if you touch a person?”

“Nothing. It only happens with objects. I don’t know why.”

“I’ve see you touching things…”

“I don’t have visions every time I touch something. Not all objects have that energy and it’s usually one vision per object, sort of speak. And with the drugs is even less, which is why I think I can do this if I do it before the drugs totally wear off.”

“I don’t know. Let’s think about it. Okay?” Everybody nodded, except Tegoshi, who was extremely quiet.

~~~~~~

November 1963

Kame was walking down the empty hall. He was a young doctor, which was not unusual in this institution since Shingo sensei had hired the youngest, the ones with knowledge on the newest trends and latest treatments. That was why he had accepted to move there with his wife; he wanted to be the best and this new psychiatric hospital was new but the most promising one.

Now, after five months there, he was beginning to doubt his decision to take the position. For some reason, patients kept getting worse. They started having hallucinations and even the most docile inmates could have violent outbursts of rage. Even some of the nurses had started acting weird.

He heard a murmur up ahead. It came from one of the rooms, which was supposed to be empty. Maybe some of the nurses went there to talk, or maybe some of the patients had sneaked out?

He got closer. The murmurs were still there but he couldn’t make out any words. He opened the door and saw Shingo sensei. He was alone. Well, not really alone. Kame could have sworn that he saw a shadow disperse when he came in, a few wisps of shadowy smoke lingering for a few seconds.

“Shingo sensei?”

“Ah, Kamenashi-kun. What a coincidence, I was just about to go to the meeting.” He gave Kame a big smile that had always seemed creepy to the younger man. Shingo sensei also seemed pale and had bags under his eyes.

“Are you okay, sensei?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Were you just talking to someone?”

“Only to myself. Odd habit, I know, but it helps me think. Shall we walk together?”

Kame nodded and they both left the room. As they walked Kame thought he could still hear the murmurs behind them but forced them out of his head. He was probably just tired. He just went to the meeting hoping it would end soon so he could get home.

 

The meeting had been short and without any surprises, though Shingo sensei had said that he would call for another meeting soon with “new and exciting news” that would apparently change everything. Kame went home right after it; he didn’t want to think about that place for the rest of the day.

“Ah, okaeri!” He heard Meisa’s voice say.

Kame smiled at his wife. “Tadaima.”

“Dinner will be ready in a little while.”

He nodded and murmured an answer as she took his jacket. Before she could move away he brought her in for a hug.

“Was everything okay at work?”

“As okay as usual.”

“That bad?” Kame didn’t answer. “You could quit.”

“I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. We can go back to Tokyo and with your grades and recommendations you could get a job in any hospital.”

“And I wouldn’t make half of what I make here.”

“If it means you will be better it doesn’t matter.” Meisa stepped back but left her arms on Kame’s waist. “You are not sleeping well. I don’t know what it is but there is something on your mind and it started when we moved here.”

“Yeah. I just...”

“I know, but I’d rather have less money than you not sleeping and looking like a zombie.”

“A zombie?”

“It’s a thing... in movies anyway.” Kame chuckled. Maisa loved movies. “Kazuya…”

He sighed. “Okay, let’s give it a couple of months.” He put his hands on his wife’s distended stomach and felt his child kick. He or she was never still according to Meisa. “After the baby is born. It’s not a good idea for you to be travelling now anyway. And things may get better. And if they don’t, then we’ll move back. I promise.”

That night sleep didn’t come easily.

_If you move, how long do you think it will be before you can support your family the way you want to?_

Meisa is right, though. That place... there is something wrong with that place.

_It will get better. It will give you money and reputation._

Yeah.

_Just wait and see. Keep your mind open. Everything will change._


	11. Chapter 11

He was sitting at his desk waiting for Tegoshi. Masuda had been informed of what had happened the night before and didn’t know what to expect from him.

 

This place kept getting worse. Weird things were happening. Patients being transferred without much of an explanation, patients dying and he was getting more and more reticent to stay after dark or alone even during the day. He didn’t know what it was but he didn’t like it and he had started to think about looking for a job in another hospital. And he would have done it if it wasn’t for his patient.

 

It wasn’t fair to Tegoshi. Masuda had promised him he wouldn’t leave. He wasn’t ready to accept this even to himself, but he didn’t want to leave him. They hadn’t had many sessions together yet, but there was a lot more to the other man than met the eye and a lot of the crazy behavior, Masuda was sure, was a front, a wall Tegoshi had built to put up with everything that had happened to him. Everybody expected him to act crazy, so he did it in his own way and his own.

 

He heard the knock on the door before it opened. It was him. Masuda saw Tegoshi’s pretty face. Not that he was looking, it was just a fact. He did have a… okay, this was getting him nowhere.

 

“Hello, Tegoshi-kun,” Massuda greeted. His patient just sat and stared into space. “How are you today?” He shrugged and said nothing. “It’s not like you to be this quiet.”

 

The other man shrugged again. “Sorry. But crazy people have these too, don’t they? Depression episodes?”

 

“Are you like this because of what happened last night?” Tegoshi’s dark eyes darted to him and quickly went back to staring into space. That meant yes. “It happened in the room next to yours, right? And you and your roommate heard everything.”

 

“That’s not…”

 

When Tegoshi didn’t go on, Masuda said: “That’s not why you are like this.”

 

Tegoshi took a deep breath. “He asked me for help. I just told him we would talk about it in morning. I should have…”

 

“What? What should you have done? What could you have done?”

 

“Ueda killed his roommate, didn’t he? And then killed himself, right? It must have been bloody judging by the screams. If I had told the others…”

 

“There is nothing you could have done.”

 

“You don’t understand. This is just beginning and… I could end up.... we all could…” he shook his head and Masuda saw tears coming down his cheeks. Tegoshi brushed them away angrily and Masuda could see the other man was scared and wanted to hold him and make it better. He wanted to hold him so bad that he made sure he didn’t.

  
  


~~~~~~

  
  


That night if anybody had been in one of the many practically abandoned hallways of the asylum, that person would have heard two men talking.

 

“This can’t go on. Ueda is dead. His roommate is too and you didn’t see them. He only left pieces and then beat himself so badly that… We have to end this.”

 

“I know. That’s what we are trying to do.”

 

“I have to transfer everybody and close down the place again.”

 

“No. That has been done before and it didn’t work. People still died. This won’t just go away and you know that.”

 

“I know, I know. But… this is getting out of hand.”

 

“I know. But they are the answer. Now that they are all here it’s time.”

 

“They are just kids.”

 

“Not really. I don't like this anymore than you do but we HAVE to end it, no matter the cost. And we will give them a choice. As much of a choice as they can have.”

 

However, nobody was in that particular hallway and nobody heard.

 

~~~~~~~

 

With no idea that that conversation had taken place the night before, Shige was walking with Tegoshi, Koyama and Fujigaya and they saw Erika alone sitting in a bench outside.

 

“Why does she keep running off alone?” Tegoshi said crossed.

 

“You do that all the time,”

 

“Shut up, Fujigaya.” Tegoshi answered sticking out his tongue at him. Fujigaya just chuckled. “This is different. Shige, go get her.”

 

“Eh?”

 

“Go get her.”

 

“Why? She’s not really alone, there are other people outside.”

 

“All crazies, no good. Go get her.”

 

“Why me?”

 

“Because she’s been wandering off alone ever since you came and started staring at her like an oaf. You caused this, you fix it.”

 

Shige opened his mouth to answer but it was really impossible to argue with his roommate when he got like this so he just walked outside.

  
  
  


Inside, Koyama said: “She’s not really hiding because of him.”

 

“I know,” answered Tegoshi.

 

“And she’s always going outside alone,” Fujigaya added.

 

“I know that, you know that but Shige doesn’t know that,” Tegoshi explained with a huge smile.

 

“Erika will kill you.”

 

“Nah, I’m too adorable."

 

~~~~~~

 

"Maki, will you tell me me what's going on?"

 

Maki looked down. How could she tell him when she wasn't sure herself?

 

Yamashita grabbed her hand and twined his fingers with her. He was always so patient, so good. She felt anger rise up in her. Why was he so perfect? It made her feel so little, so stupid.

 

It's all his fault. You know this.

 

No. It wasn't true. It was the voices. She had no idea where they came from but they weren't coming from her.

 

She knew Yamashita was a great man but far from perfect. She knew of all his flaws and problems, all the struggles he had had and still had.

 

Maki looked at him and put her free hand on his cheek and caressed it with her thumb. He leaned his head towards her hand and she kissed him. It wasn't with passion, it was with love and, Maki hoped, assurance.

 

"I love you, I always will."

 

"I love you too but that's not an answer."

 

"That's the only one I can give."

 

Yamashita looked worried but accepted that, as always.

 

Yeah, as always. He loves you so much. You will hurt him, you know? You will because you are losing your mind and you always hurt those you care for. Let me in. In the end you have no choice, you are mine.

 

~~~~~~~

 

November 1963

 

Tabe Mikako was a young nurse. She had always wanted to be a nurse. Well no, not really. She had always wanted to be a doctor but female doctors were an oddity to say the least and her family was poor so she had to settle with being a nurse. However, she was not bitter. She liked her job and she was good at it.

 

Yes, she was probably one of the best even at her young age but still it raised a few eyebrows that she had been given one of the two positions as Head Nurse. She had been the most surprised and she now regretted accepting the post.

 

Things had changed, though, and she really needed the extra money that came with the position. She needed all the money she could save since she might be out of a job in a few months.

 

Up ahead, she saw Takizawa sensei. She had the idea of turning around and avoid him but he saw her.

 

“Tabe-chan, how are you? I haven't seen you all day."

 

"Takisawa sensei, how are you?"

 

"Better now that I see you." She ignored the winning smile he threw her. "I was thinking maybe we could go to that restaurant I told you about."

 

He had been asking her out ever since they had met. Well not just her but practically every nurse under the age of 35, and probably almost every girl in the village. The only difference was that she had no intention of saying yes.

 

"So, what do you say? Come on, you've given me every excuse already and you don't work tonight."

 

"Well I...I..." Oh god, she couldn't think of anything!

 

"Well, you had said you would have dinner with me and my wife tonight."

 

She turned around and saw Kamenashi sensei standing there. She could have hugged him.

 

"Yes, I remember. I'm sorry Takizawa sensei." She bowed a little and walked with Kamenashi sensei ignoring the other man's narrowed eyes. He would get over it; if it was one thing he always had were women.

 

"Thank you."

 

"You are welcome. You know, the invitation stands."

 

"Oh, no. I couldn't inconvenience you and your wife like that."

 

Kamenashi sensei smiled, “It’s no inconvenience, really. We just moved and she doesn’t know anybody, it might be good for her to meet someone new.”

 

Mikako still hesitated. Kamenashi sensei seemed like a good man but she had soundproof evidence that she was a horrible judge of character.

 

And on the other hand, she hated going back to her empty apartment. She was used to being alone but lately the problem was that she didn’t feel she was alone. She had the constant feeling of being watched. She felt the presence of someone all the time.

 

“I do not want to pressure you but it's no bother. Like I said, my wife doesn't know anybody and I'm sure she would love to meet you. She is pregnant and away from her family…" She still hesitated. "But if you prefer not to, it's completely fine too." He bowed with a smile and walked away.

 

Left alone in the hallway she started to feel watched again; she started to hear the soft murmurs. It was silly but somehow she felt that something was talking to her from afar as if whatever it was was afraid or unable to come closer but it was still there, lurking.

 

Right then and there, she knew she didn't want to be alone. She ran after Kamenashi sensei.

 

"Sensei!" He turned around with a questioning look. "If it's okay, I would love to meet your wife."

 

Kame nodded and she followed him to his car.

  
  


Kamenashi's sensei's wife liked the woman in front of her. She was very nice and so shy. She was also very cute. She had a round face and a very cute dimpled smile and she looked so young and alone. mostly, she looked alone.

 

They were drinking some coffee after dinner and the conversation had turned serious. Meisa knew that Mikako was hiding something but it wasn't her place to pry. Although, if she was right, the other woman would tell them herself.

 

"I don't know how much longer I'll be working at the hospital." Mikako was saying.

 

"Eh? You are quitting?" Kame asked.

 

The woman shook her head. "I'll probably be dismissed..." Mikako wasn’t sure if she should tell them. They were such nice people; what would they think of her? But she was alone and she needed to talk to someone. "I'll probably be dismissed... once I start to show."

 

"Starting to show?" Mikako could only blush deeper while fighting back her tears.

 

“Would you give us a moment alone?"

 

Mikako heard, more than saw, Kamenashi sensei mutter an apology and leave the room leaving her alone with his wife.

  
The poor girl was obviously trying to hold back her tears. Meisa slowly and gently put her arms around the weeping woman and brought her against her shoulder and just let her cry.


	12. Chapter 12

                                                                                           

 

Erika was sitting outside. She seemed peaceful and Shige hated to intrude. They had talked in the last few weeks. It had been three weeks since the Ueda episode and everything seemed calm. At least, there had been no gruesome deaths. The point was that they had started talking and Shige wanted to believe that she was starting to feel more comfortable around him.

“Hi,” he finally said. She looked at him a little startled.

“H-hi,”

“Um, Tegoshi sent me to get you. He said that you shouldn’t be alone.”

“I’m n-not alone, there are other people and I’m just waiting for Maki and Yamashita to c-come b-back. I always do this, w-why would… Urgh, I’ll k-kill him.”

 “What?” Shige asked a little amused.

 “I’m sorry. You c-can go b-back to them. I always sp-pend a little time outside while Maki and Yamashita have a l-little alone t-time. Yuya knows this but… Sorry he bothered you.”

 Shige shook his head. “He didn’t. I can stay. Although, if you want to be alone, I can go.”

 Erika bit on her lip and then licked it. Staring, he was staring again.

 “It’s ok-kay,” she finally said and Shige sat next to her.

 “He’s t-trying to fix us up. Tegoshi, I mean,” she said.

 Shige laughed. “I know.”

 “He t-tried to d-do that with Yamashita and then K-koyama. I c-could k-k-kill him. It’s emb-barrassing, really.”

 “Why? I mean I would understand annoying, he is definitely that.”

 “It’s j-just embarrassing,” she repeated looking away. “B-but you d-don’t have to worry, I d-don’t t-take it seriously.”

 Well Shige didn’t know how to feel about that. She didn’t take Tegoshi seriously or she didn’t take him seriously? And he honestly wanted to slap Tegoshi in the head for keep trying to fix her up with just about anybody.

“Maki and Yamashita s-should b-be here any minute. You d-don’t have to st-tay.”

“Oi, why do keep trying to get rid of me? I mean, if it’s because you don’t like me just tell me and I’ll understand. If it’s because you don’t know me that well, running away from me it’s not going to make that any better. And if it’s still because of that time that I saw your scar, I’ve already apologized and I’m not so shallow that that would bother me. Yes, I was shocked at first, it looked painful that’s all. Now I moved on and so should you!”

She just stared at him. Way to go, Shige, rant at her and scare her more, that’ll make things better.

“Tegoshi is right, you are like a g-grumpy old man.” She finally said laughing. “I j-just don’t want you to feel obligated. Tegoshi can be p-pushy.”

“Yeah, but I’m not a push over. If I didn’t want to be here, I wouldn’t be.”

She smiled a little and then they just started talking.

“Well, d-don’t get mad, this is j-just an observation. Maki and Yamashita should have been here already. If I know Yuya, and I d-do, he p-probably intercepted them and st-topped them from coming.”

 “Do you want to go inside? It’s getting late isn’t it?”

 “Yeah, we should.” Everybody had gone inside and it was starting to get dark.

 They left the garden and realized it was close to dinner time.

 "So, do you still feel like killing Tegoshi?" Shige asked.

 She chuckled "A little. Mostly b-because we will have to suffer everybody st-taring at us through supper b-because everybody knows what he's up to."

 "Mmh." Shige wasn’t looking forward to that.

 "Hey, do you w-want to sneak out?" She suddenly asked. "If you want we can g-get some food and eat somewhere else."

"We can do that?"

"Sure, as long as nobody finds out," she said grabbing his hand and pulling him behind her.

They ended up in the front desk. Shige hadn’t seen it before. It was nice, actually, and there weren’t many people there. There was a female nurse behind the desk and she was talking to a male nurse. It was Ryo and he was obviously flirting with the woman.

Ryo turned a little to the side and Erika waved at him and hid back again. After about a minute the door opened and Ryo came out.

"What the hell are you two doing here?"

"Hello, N-Nishikido-san." Erika greeted and Ryo just crossed his arms and lifted a single eyebrow. "We n-need a favor." Erika continued.

"Of course you do."

"D-do you think you could g-get us some food? We... we don’t want to eat with everybody t-today."

"Well that’s not really optional, is it?"

"Well, n-no. But we are trying to avoid T-tegoshi today. I'm sure you can understand t-that."

"Since when do _you_ want to get away from him, Erika?"

"Since he's been m-meddling with me... m-more than usual."

That seemed to soften him a little.

"And..." Erika continued "I know something about Nurse Aoi, over there."

Ryo was still frowning but Shige could see he was interested.

"Fine. But you have one hour and I want to know where the two of you are going."

"T-two hours and I'll t-tell you where we are going."

"An hour and a half."

"Deal. Okay. She's a D-death Note fan."

"That's all you have?"

"I m-mean a REAL Death Note fan. Like a f-freak. She even cosplays... as L. And her last b-boyfriend left her because of it. I think you c-can work with that, can't you?"

Now Ryo was smiling with gleaming eyes.  "I sure can."

~~~~~~

Shige was following Erika up some emergency stairs, they were carrying some food Ryo had given them.

"Where are we going?" Shige asked.

"The roof t-top. The view is incredible and it's really q-quiet."

She was right, the view was incredible. The building was surrounded by a forest and beyond it he could see the city lights.

"I don’t mean to be a spoilsport or anything, but is this safe?" Yes, things had been quiet since Ueda but still.

"Yes, Sophie will l-let me know if something is wrong."

"Sophie?"

"My friend," she answered while she sat on the floor and took the food out. "My d-dead friend." She finally added looking down.

Shige’s jaw almost hit the floor but he recovered quickly. "Would you care to expand on that concept?"

"She's been with me for a very long time. I started hearing her before me and my dad came to Japan. And she is the only one that has stayed around."

Shige was curious but wasn’t sure he could ask.

"Is she here now?" It wasn’t one of the most important questions he had but it was kind of disturbing.

"No, but she can find me, fast."

“And where is she now?”

“I don’t know, she doesn’t tell me where she goes, she says it’s not for me to know. Actually, there is no one else here… or they are very silent at least.”

After that they started talking. She didn’t tell him anything specific about herself but they did talk about other things.

After finishing off most of the food they’d taken, Shige found himself smiling at her.

“What?” She asked.

“Nothing. It’s just that you haven’t stuttered almost since we got here.”

She shrugged one shoulder. "I only stutter when I'm nervous."

"And you are not nervous anymore?"

"I guess not." She said taking the last onigiri.

"Oi, that's the last one!" Shige said grabbing for it.

"Yes and I'm the girl, I should have it."

"But I'm still hungry!"

"Me too."

They both laughed while fighting for the last piece of food.

Somehow, Shige ended up almost on top of her. Their eyes met and suddenly they stopped laughing.

"Ok-kay, y-you can have it."

"Why are you stuttering again?"

"I'm n-nervous again."

"Why?" he asked and wondered how was it possible that her hair was still covering her face. She looked down.

Shige moved his hand to her hair. She looked up again startled but didn't move away. Slowly he moved the hair away and really looked at her face for the first time.

He already knew she had big round brown eyes and that she was pretty. So he looked at the scar. He had seen it before, though briefly. It wasn’t the only scar; she had others, much smaller, marring her pale skin. He traced the scar with his thumb, skipping the eyelid.

"It doesn't hurt anymore, does it?

"No, it healed years ago."

“Did it get to the eye? I mean does it affect your vision?”

“No. I can see.”

It was pinkish and it was wide at the bottom where it ended about a centimeter from her mouth. That brought his attention to her mouth. She licked her lips and bit the bottom one and that did it. He bent forward and kissed her.

 It was just his lips on hers. He leaned back and looked at her. She just looked a little shocked but she didn't slap him or yell at him.

 He put his hands on the side of her face and caressed her cheeks with his thumbs. Her skin was really soft as he paid attention to how the texture changed on her scarred cheek. She leaned a little closer and on another impulse he kissed above her eyebrow, where the scar started, and then her cheek and finally her eyelid. She took in air through her mouth and he took advantage to kiss her again, this time properly.

 This time she kissed him back and put her arms around his neck.

 He moved his hand to her lower back and he brought her closer to him. Their breath started to come faster. He left her lips and trailed kisses down her throat, where he noticed there was another scar. He kissed it before going back to her lips.

 "I guess this is why you lost track of time." Ryo's voice came from behind them.

 They jumped apart and Erika arranged her hair so it was covering the side of her face before she turned around.

 "Sorry," Shige said. "We were just going back."

 "Yeah, I bet you were. Come on before you get me into trouble. And don't even try to get more time out of me or I'll tell Tegoshi what I just saw and you'll never hear the end of it."

 It turned out that he didn't need to tell Tegoshi since he, Maki, and Yamashita were waiting for them with expecting smiles.

 "So, what were you doing?" asked Tegoshi in a singsong and wiggling his eyebrows.

 "N-nothing, Yuya, we j-just ate."

 "Right, that's why you are stuttering with me for the first time in years," Tegoshi said and then turned to Yamashita, "I love it when I'm right."

 Shige wanted to smile but wouldn't give Tegoshi the satisfaction.

 They went back to the wards together. Shige and Erika walked a little behind the rest and, to give them credit, they didn't say anything or sneaked glances.

 They were getting closer to the place where the girls would have to take another way. Shige grabbed Erika's wrist and gesturing for her to be silent took her to one of the halls, he kissed her again, fast but deep.

 "Good night," he said.

 "Good night."

 Then they went back.

 Shige was walking with Tegoshi and Yamashita now. Tegoshi kept looking at him.

 "I'm not telling you anything," Shige said.

 "Aww, it's cute that you think that, but we all know you will," Tegoshi answered.

 Shige just rolled his eyes and kept walking to their room.

 ~~~~~~~

 The shadow shook. It expanded and contracted and then it started to move. It crawled through the lighted halls and went in a vent. It slid through the labyrinth with determination, with purpose. It found the room it was looking for and dripped soundlessly in through the vent. Then it floated, it hovered above each of the 3 figures there. It knew who they were and it only wanted one.

 It recognized him. Part of it was screaming inside, but that part was weak. The screaming part was saying a word, a name: Yamashita.

 The shadow now knew the name of the form and it changed nothing. It reached out and started pounding, hacking, breaking, tearing flesh and bone apart with bear hands. As the blood and meat and bone touched it, it was taking form.

 There was nothing left. The shadow, which had a form now, turned to a mirror to see the reflection of Maki, covered in the blood of her lover and repeating one word: Suzrain.

 

Maki woke up screaming and crying.

"Maki? What is it? What's wrong?" She heard Erika ask.

She couldn’t answer, couldn’t speak, and could barely breathe. She just reached out to the other woman and hugged her in a bone breaking embrace and just cried.


	13. Chapter 13

                                                                          

 

Massu was sitting in his office, just another day at work. Something was off, however. He looked around. It was dark inside and the yellowish ceiling lights were not really enough to illuminate the whole room. He stood up and looked out the window and saw that a storm was brewing.

“You are right.”

He turned around. Tegoshi was standing there. Massu frowned. Why hadn't he heard the other man come in?

"Excuse me?" he asked.

"You are right, there is a storm brewing."

Massu figured he must have been speaking at loud. Tegoshi didn't sit down as usual. He walked closer to the young doctor, slowly but inexorably. He walked looking down, as if he was embarrassed. He dragged his hand through Massu's desk and for some reason he felt the touch on his own skin and made him repress a shiver.

Tegoshi stopped when he was right in front of the doctor and looked down at him with those big brown eyes, which blinked once slowly.

Massu... the whisper had Tegoshi's voice but the man's lips hadn't move.

"I want you," Massu heard himself say.

Tegoshi's hand went to his neck and tangled with Massu's hair, pulling on it.

"Do you? Really?"

Massu was now sitting on his chair and Tegoshi was straddling him. Massu was sure they had been kissing but for some reason he couldn't recall the feel of it. Tegoshi was rubbing against him and Massu wanted to kiss him but he could never find the other man's lips settling so he settle for his neck.

He had to stop this now. He had the certainty that Kimura sensei was right outside and would come in any minute. But god, he wanted to stay this way.

He was jeopardizing his career, his life.

You could have everything. All you have to do is come, give in.

Massu looked to the right. He was in a room he didn't recognize. The paint on the walls was darkened with time and dirt and it was scratched at some places.

Without saying anything, Tegoshi moved away and Massu stood up to look behind. There was a shadow looking at them.

"You would have no worries, no conflicts. You could have him..." Massu looked back to see Tegoshi on his desk leaning on his forearms looking back with a sweet looking smile. "You could have him and wouldn't need to worry about anything else. You would be free of the responsibilities of this world."

Massu reached out to the shadow but stopped when he felt arms coming around his waist and lips on his neck.

He was facing Tegoshi. The other man nuzzled his cheek and kissed the shell of Massu's ear. Why wouldn’t he kiss his lips?

"Massu," Tegoshi panted, "don't listen to it. Massu... WAKE UP."

 

Massu sat up on his bed. His breathing was labored and he was sweating and he would have sworn that he had heard a loud high pitch screech. Maybe it had been in the dream.

He tried hard to remember the dream but it kept eluding him. For the life of him he couldn't remember what he had been dreaming about.

~*~

Shige woke up that day and knew it would be a bad day. It had already been a week since the drugs had stopped working and he was back to seeing the faces, which was not a bad thing in this place with the things that had been going on.

First: now, whatever it was that was affecting patients had started to affect some nurses and guards. He could see that some of them were changing. Even Ryo felt something eerie going on and was considering asking for a transfer.

"When the patients are saner than the nurses and even some doctors is time for Ryo to make a run for it," he had commented one night.

Second: there were the shadows and murmurs that could be heard at night and the screams from other inmates. There hadn’t been any episode like Ueda's, thank god, but everybody seemed a little more on edge.

And, for some reason, the boss was not available. Yamashita and Tegoshi had tried going to his room but he wasn’t there. Apparently he hadn’t been transferred, but was ill and had been taken to a hospital, according to one of the doctor's head.

When Shige and Tegoshi saw the others that morning they knew something was wrong, very wrong. Maki was crying and Yamashita was calming her down. Koyama was standing apart, leaning against the wall. And when Erika looked up at him he saw that she was terrified.

Shige sat next to her and she grabbed his hand tightly.

“What’s going on?” Shige asked.

“Maki had a dream,” she answered.

“Oh, God,” Tegoshi whispered. “What did you dream?”

“I kill him. I’ve been dreaming that I kill him.”

“Who?” Maki shook her head.

“Me?” Asked Yamashita. Maki nodded against his chest.

“She dreamt she killed Yamashita. She was a shadow at first; she went into his room and killed him. She was saying that word. She’s been having dreams for a few weeks now. But it’s never been this bad,” Erika explained

“How long has this been going on?” Yamashita demanded.

Erika looked down before she answered. “I noticed she wasn’t sleeping a month ago and… she’s been acting weird for the past few weeks.”

“You should have said something!” Yamashita snarled.

“You better calm down,” Shige said, he could understand how the other man felt, but that didn’t made it alright for him to treat Erika like that.

Yamashita looked at him with his eyebrows furrowed.

“It’s not her fault, I told her not to say anything,” Maki said in a small voice.

Yamashita took a deep breath. “I know. I’m sorry. And I did noticed something was up, I just thought you would tell me so we could deal with it.” He finished looking down at Maki

“I think there is no dealing with it. I just have to stay away from you.”

“No.” Yamashita shook his head and tried to tighten his hold on her but Maki stepped back from him and without saying anything else she left and Yamashita went after her.

“Why is she like that for just a dream?” Shige asked.

Koyama answered. “Because with her it’s never “just” a dream. She has premonitions.”

“Premonitions?”

“Yeah,” said Fujigaya. “Sometimes she just sees the future, other times she dreams it.”

“And some things might be symbolic but they all came true.” Koyama finished.

“Not always,” Tegoshi said. “Sometimes it can be changed…”

“Once, it changed, once.” Fujigaya said.

“And it can happen again,” Tegoshi said with a determined voice then he got up. “Can I talk to you?” He said to Erika. She let go of Shige’s hand and got up. They didn’t leave the room. It wasn’t necessary since the room was becoming more and more deserted since many patients had been transferred. The place seemed to be emptying up.

Shige looked at them talking. They both looked worried and Erika was shaking her head. He knew he had no right, since he had only been “with” her for 2 weeks and had known them for 3 months and they had been friends for years, but he was a little jealous. He would have liked to be included. He shook it off. It was silly.

“They are always like that; it’s not that they don’t trust you. It’s just that it’s difficult for them to open up,” Koyama offered quietly.

“I know,” Shige said.

“And if it makes you feel better, she talked to you much faster than any of us, except maybe for Tegoshi but he is so pushy that probably drove her crazy until she talked to him. And you are the only one she’s shown any interest in, you know?”

It kinda did make him feel better, but decided to change the subject. “So, Maki’s ability is having premonitions?”

“It is,” Fujigaya answered. “We should let her tell you, but under the circumstances…” He shrugged. “She came here because she dreamed about a fire in her building. She tried to tell people and of course no one listened and, when it finally happened, everybody thought that she had done it. Neighbors and teachers started remembering that she had also talked about other accidents and they had come true. Long story short, she was declared crazy and dangerous and ended up here. She met Tegoshi and was probably annoyed; then, she met Erika and probably wondered about her for months before she finally spoke. Next she met Koyama and probably didn’t know what to think but kinda liked him and finally met Yamapi and it was love at first sight and they lived locked up ever after.”

“Well, it was more complicated than that but that’s the gist of it. She’s had premonitions in here. Some harmless enough and we used them to get stuff from the nurses and staff,” Koyama added.

“This only makes it more necessary for me to go into Ueda’s room and try to see something.”

“I thought everyone agreed that it was not a good idea,” Shige half said half asked.

“I didn’t agree on that and since I’m the one doing it, my opinion is the one that counts. I may see something that might help us know what’s going on and not let Maki butcher Yamashita. I think it’s worth the risk.”

“Not if you get hurt or worse.” It was Erika’s voice. She and Tegoshi had come back at some point.

“Man! You just have to be the center of attention, don’t you?” Tegoshi said.

“Look who’s talking,” Fujigaya rebuked.

“That’s my natural charisma. You are going to get hurt and as annoying as you are, I’m used to you.”

Fujigaya rolled his eyes. Tegoshi rolled his back. “I have to go to therapy now. Play nice while I’m gone children,” Shige’s roommate said and left.

After a few minutes Fujigaya got up. “I feel like taking a nap.”

“We haven’t even have lunch.” Koyama pointed out.

“So? A perk of being institutionalized is that I can take a nap whenever I want to.”

“Fine, I’ll go with you.” Koyama got up and went after the other man.

Fujigaya and Koyama went their own way and Erika and Shige walked with Tegoshi to his therapy session.  
~~~~~

December 1963

“Oguri, wait up!” He heard his friend Hiro call. They were both doctors and they had both studied together and they had thought themselves lucky that they had found such a good job and in the same place.

“You’re leaving too? I thought you had to work tonight.”

Hiro suppressed a shiver. “I changed with one of the other doctors. I hate working at night and he didn’t seem to mind so…”

“You’ll have to take the night shift sooner or later.”

“I’d rather it be later. I’ll do the night shift when you do, how ‘bout that?”

Oguri chuckled but said nothing. He couldn’t say he liked the night shift, either. Things had always been… eerie, to put it that way but lately… Oguri didn’t even know how to put it. And he had started to note some… things lurking around. He had no other way to put it.  
He hadn’t said anything, of course. The last thing he wanted was for the others to think he was crazy. So he kept quiet, even with Hiro.  
“So, do you want to go out tonight?”

Oguri hesitated. The small town in which they lived had only one bar, or something close to a bar so it was either that or driving to the next big city a couple of hours away.

“Come on, I really need to get out of here and you know…”

“Okay, we can go out and have a drink.”

“Hey can we tag along?” They both turned around to see Takizawa sensei and Kitayama sensei.

 

They were at the bar a couple of hours later. It was a slow night, which put Takizawa off. He was the lady’s man of the group which meant he always had Kitayama, who benefited from Takisawa’s expertise on women, with him.

Hiro was not particularly interested. He was married but that was not really the problem. He hadn’t been looking for a night out when he asked Oguri, he wanted to talk. So he was hoping Takizawa would find a couple of girls he liked and Kitagawa would go with him.

He knew Oguri wouldn’t go with them since he was engaged and very much in love and was really not interested.

“So, why aren’t you home with your wife?” Kitayama asked.

“She’s at her mother’s for a week.”

Before anybody could comment on that, Oguri asked: “So, you wanted to talk about something, didn’t you?”

Leave it to Oguri to know exactly was on his mind.

Takizawa went serious then. “You want us to leave? I mean if it’s private.”

Hiro hesitated. He didn’t know the two men very well but they seemed like good men, each had their flaws but who didn’t.

He took a deep breath. “I… you’ll think I’m crazy… but something’s going on… at the hospital.” He saw the other man squirm a little in their seats. “Whenever I’m in there I feel…”

“Watched,” Oguri finished when Hiro couldn’t. The other two men nodded.

“So you guys think so too?”

 

Again, they simply nodded.

  
“But so what,” said Kitayama. “We still have to work there and it’s probably just that the building it’s so unnecessarily grand. That’s probably it.”

  
Hiro was not so sure about that.  
“I think it’s more,” Oguri disagreed. “There’s something about Shingo sensei as well…”

 

“Yes, something is going on with him too. He has changed. He has been changing since we started working…”

  
They were all silent.

  
“Again, what can we do? Even if there is really something going on,” Kitayama spoke up, “we either keep working or quit. Can you afford to quit? I can’t. We are all young doctors and we were lucky to get the positions we got. Yes, we are all good at what we do, but we wouldn’t have gotten the positions we got here anywhere else.”

  
“Maybe there is a reason for that,” Takizawa muttered. He straightened abruptly and slap Kitayama’s back. “But my friend here is right. I can’t quit. Any other hospital’s pay wouldn’t even come close to what we get paid here. And I see the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen.”

  
They all followed Takizawa’s eyes and sure enough the woman was gorgeous and what was better for Kitayama, she had a pretty friend.  
The two men went after them and finally left with them.

  
Oguri and Hiro didn’t speak any more. They finished their beers and left the bar.

  
Oguri arrived at the empty house. He went into the bedroom and started to change. He felt a prickle at the back of his head, like when someone is staring at you. He turned around to see the open door to an empty bathroom. Of course it was empty; there was no one else in the house.

  
He brushed his teeth and hurried to bed. He didn’t fall asleep right away. He started to hear murmurs. Again. He had been hearing them for some time now. He used to think it was his neighbors, until he found out the house next door was currently empty.

  
The murmurs continued all through the night and Oguri could only curl up in bed and cover his ears.


	14. Chapter 14

Right around the time Tegoshi was sitting on Masuda's office, Fujigaya and Koyama were walking back to their room. Koyama didn’t like what he was feeling from Fujigaya, it was pure determination. He either felt very strongly about his nap time or he was about to do something stupid.

 Koyama was weary. The drugs had stopped having any effect and he was starting to feel more, a lot more and it was confusing, but not excessively so. Definitely not overwhelming like before. If he concentrated he could control it. Yamashita had told him he felt the same way. Maybe they were all ready to deal with their abilities.

But that was not what was bothering him now. What was bothering him was that Fujigaya had stopped in front of Ueda's room.

 "This is not a good idea," Koyama said.

 Fujigaya gave him a cute and sarcastic smile, the kind that made Koyama think of Tegoshi, and said: "then leave."

 Without waiting to see what Koyama did, Fujigaya turned the knob. The room was unlocked. They stepped in.

 "What if I do leave?" Koyama asked even if he already knew the answer.

 "I'll do this alone, as I had planned."

 "What if I make you come with me?"

 He asked even though he knew the answer to that question as well.

 "Then I'll come back alone later."

 Koyama didn’t like this, but figured it was better if someone was with Fujigaya in case he needed help so he stayed.

  


The room looked normal, Fujigaya thought. As if a violent attack hadn’t occurred a few weeks ago. He was glad Koyama had stayed. In spite of all his bravado, he didn’t want to be alone for this. He didn't want to see what had happened but it might help them and if it didn’t he would side with Yamashita and convince the rest to get the hell out of there and go somewhere. Maybe Hawaii. Yes, the sun, the beach. With all their abilities they could survive, get jobs in Hawaii, meet a nice local...

 He shook his head. He was blabbing and stalling. He took a deep breath and he started running his fingers softly on every surface. It didn’t take long. As soon as he touched the foot of the bed the lighting changed. It was dark, night. He saw someone, Ueda, pacing and mumbling to himself.

 His roommate woke up. "What's wrong with you?" he said.

 "I really don’t want to do this." Ueda said, but he wasn’t talking to the other man. Fujigaya could see now that there was someone else in the room. No, not someone, something. It was hovering near Ueda. It was bigger than him, and it seemed to be leaning forward towards the man.

 Ueda stopped pacing.

 "I'm fucking tired, Ueda. Just go to bed and let me sleep."

 "They say they will stop," Ueda banged his fist against the wall. "I'm sorry. I want it to stop, I'm sorry." Then the thing shivered and merged with Ueda. His roommate stood up.

 "What the hell are you talking about?"

 Without a word Ueda lifted the other guy as if it were nothing but a rag doll and threw him against the wall. The screams started. Ueda was beating the other man to pulp.

 "I didn’t want to do it." Fujigaya turned around and saw Ueda standing there. "They said they would stop."

 "They would stop what?"

 "They get to you, they know how. They make you hurt. They make you see things. I just wanted them to stop." His voice cracked, he was crying.

 "Who are they?"

 "It is looking for you. It’s you it was after, isn’t it?” Fujigaya had no idea what the other man was talking about so he shook his head. “Get out before it sees you. Leave!"

 "Who are they?"

 "Suzerain"

 At that moment Fujigaya noticed the screams had stopped. The room was covered in blood. Ueda had beaten himself up against the walls and every other surface. The thing hovered and became a shadow. It was starting to leave but it stopped.

 "Leave!" Please, leave now." The other Ueda said.

 The shadow took form again.

 "Too late." Ueda said and disappeared.

 Fujigaya wanted to leave but didn’t know how to stop a vision. The thing turned around and started walking towards him. All he could see were its eyes.

 And then the vision ended. He was on the floor and Koyama was shaking him.

 "Fujigaya? Fujigaya, look at me." The other man was saying. Fujigaya looked at him with wide, terrified eyes. "Fujigaya? What is it? What did you see?"

 Fujigaya just shook his head. He couldn’t speak. What had he done?

 ~~~~~~

 

"You did what?!" Yamashita shouted.

 "Shh! He went into the room and saw what happened."

 "Are you insane?"

 "Yamashita, enough. Shouting at him won't change anything. And he is scared enough. Please take a deep breath and try to calm down. I can control what I feel from others better than before but I'm still getting the hang of it," Koyama said pinching the bridge of his nose.

 Yamashita took a deep breath and sat down.

 "Sorry. Okay, did you find something useful?"

 Fujigaya told the rest exactly what happened.

 "And that thing saw you?" Fujigaya just nodded.

 "Is that common, for somebody in the vision to talk to you?" Shige asked.

 "No, it had never happened before. I don’t know what it means but Ueda said that those things made you see things to get to you. It was as if Ueda finally caved in and the think took over and..."

 "And?” Asked Erika when he didn’t continue.

 "And now I think that maybe Maki didn’t have a premonition but the things are after her. What better way to get to her than to make her think she will hurt Yamashita?"

 "I haven’t been seeing things, it was only that dream."

 "But the way you described the shadow in the dream was just like what I saw in the vision."

Maki shook her head.

 "We need to talk to G." Tegoshi said. He had been silent, unnaturally so, ever since he had left his doc's office.

 Yamashita rubbed the back of his neck "I..."

 "I know," Tegoshi interrupted. "You think he is hiding something. I do too, honestly. But if he's hiding something it's because he has information to hide."

 "That's a good point," Shige said.

 "Okay, we'll talk to G. All of us." Everybody nodded and it was settled.

 ~~~~~~

December 1963

 

Takizawa had a pounding headache and it wasn't even a hangover. He had to finish his round though and then report to foreign sensei. He still couldn’t remember the damn name.

 He opened the door to the last patient's room. The nurse was right behind him. He was a huge guy, dumb as a brick but built as house. The huge man was a necessity in this round since it was the maximum security round. In this part of the building all the dangerous patients were kept always locked up. These were rapists and murderers but with a mental illness that made them unfit for jail.

 Of all the people in the maximum security wing, this last patient gave Takizawa the creeps. He was not the most violent. In fact, the man was very docile most of the time but still there was something about the way the man looked at him. The young doctor shook himself.

 Get a grip, he told himself, he is the patient you are the doctor so get it together.

 The fact that he hadn't been sleeping well was not helping. Everything was a mess. He was so close to quitting that every day he had to convince himself to go on. That night with the other doctors he had been telling the truth, he couldn't really get another job that paid as well as this one and he would have to start from the bottom, probably, but that was starting to pale in view of how things were.

 Lately he had been thinking that maybe a more modest job, a more modest house and life style would be nice. He had met a great woman that night in the bar...

  _And how are you going to support her like she deserves? Why would she choose you if you are broke?_

 Takizawa shook his head and focused on the chart in his hand.

 "Are you feeling alright doctor?" He heard his patient's voice ask.

 "Yes. Thank you. But I should be asking you that."

 "I'm the same as always. The murmurs are quiet. Well, no, not quiet. They are busy in something else."

 The patient was staring at Takizawa with intent eyes.

 "You do know how I got here, do you?"

 "Of course I do. And I'm happy to see you are doing better with the voices." Of course Takizawa knew how the patient had ended up there. It was something he did not agree with. The man had started having headaches and later on he started hearing voices... Kind of like you.

 Takizawa ignored that last thought. The point was the man had been a construction worker and one day he had smashed a coworker’s head because the voices in the construction site told him to. And incidentally, that construction site had been the very institution he was now committed in. Takizawa was not sure that would lead to a cure for a man, staying in the place the incident had happened...

 "This place is not good, sensei."

 "Excuse me?"

 "This place should not exist. But I don’t care anymore; I’m pretty much done for."

 "What do you mean?"

 The man gave him a sad smile. Suddenly the patient looked anything but insane, which made the doctor's heart speed up for some reason.

 "They forgot about me for a little while but they'll be back and I'm tired. They have not much left to take and I don't want to hurt anybody else."

 "Tanaka san, maybe the voices won't come back, couldn't it be that you are actually getting better?"

 "Deep down, you don't believe that sensei. You probably won't admit it to yourself, but you know something is not right. The voices have left me alone for now because they are busy with something else, other people, who are more important."

 "Tanaka san, I..."

 "You better leave, sensei. It might not be too late for you." The man had jumped up to Takizawa and was now clinging desperately to the collar of his coat. "Take that woman you found and run before it's too late, before you do something you regret. They will..."

 Whatever the man was about to say was interrupted by a loud blood freezing scream that tore from the man's throat. His body started to convulse and dropped to the floor.

  


That night, Takizawa was sitting on his bed, still shaken by what had happened. Tanaka san was dead. It was labeled as a heart attack, cause by an extreme panic attack. And Takizawa was sure it was bullshit. He had been there, he had seen it and it had not been a heart attack. And Takizawa was starting to doubt everything. The patient's words kept coming back to him even if he knew that they were probably part of the man's delusion. It was that probably that was driving him crazy.

 "Tackey," the sleepy voice called as a small warm moved up and down his back slowly. "What are you doing?"

 He looked back at the woman there. Even with messy hair and half closed and slightly puffy eyes due to sleep she still looked beautiful.

 "Takey?" she repeated when he didn't answer. He smiled at the nickname she had given him.

 "I just couldn't sleep. Sorry I woke you."

 "You didn't. What were you thinking about?"

 "I want to leave this place." She looked at him questioning. "Get a job in another hospital. Maybe you could come with me..."

 She let out a breath. "Tackey, i'm..."

 "I know, and I don't care." She just looked away and started to leave the bed. He grabbed her and brought her back.

 "Sorry, forget what I said." Before she could say anything he kissed her trying to stop her and himself from thinking.

  _She won't go with you if you change your job and make less money. Her husband makes more money and he has a name. That's why she won't choose you. You know that. The place will give you money and fame and then... then you can take care of her husband. We'll help you._

He kissed her harder and grounded his hips against her softer body and focus on the sounds she was making to drown both his thoughts and the voices in his head, at least for tonight.


	15. Chapter 15

                                                                                    

They couldn’t speak with G, he wasn’t there. They asked around and apparently he had been taken to the hospital, ill. Tegoshi asked Kimura and he said that G would come back and that he would be fine, he had just gotten sick and they thought it would be better if he was treated somewhere else.

 So, they waited while things got worse around them. Fujigaya was not sleeping well, if at all; he had nightmares he couldn’t remember when he woke up. Then, there was Maki, who had started talking to herself and cowered from everybody, especially Yamapi, which was killing the poor guy.

 Shige was worried about Erika. Of course he was also worried about Maki, too, but Erika was in the same room and after what Ueda had done, he worried that Maki would hurt her. Still she refused to leave her roommate alone. But that day the decision was taken for her.

 They were sitting in their usual place mostly quiet. Erika was playing cards with Tegoshi. They were playing a game that Tegoshi pretty much invented as they went along, which meant the rules mostly benefited him.

 “Oi, that doesn’t make any sense!” Shige accused Tegoshi while Erika just laughed. Apparently, Tegoshi liked to win and Erika didn’t mind losing.

 At that moment, Maki’s head snapped up and started looking around.

 “They are here…” She jumped out of the couch she had been sitting on and started looking around. “No, no… not now, not here… not him… I don’t care… No” She backed up against the wall then turned around facing it and squatted down grabbing her head.

 Yamashita got closer to her. “Maki, baby…”

 “GET AWAY!!” She screamed.

 Koyama ran out of the room as Maki started banging her head against the wall. Yamashita and Shige took her by the arms and wrestled her away from the wall, screaming and kicking, and twisting her body at almost impossible angles.

 Koyama came back followed by Kimura and some nurses. They helped Kimura drug Maki and after that she was still. Yamashita had her on his lap hugging her body close and tightly. When Kimura got closer Yamashita shook his head and refused to let Kimura take her.

 “Yamashita-kun, let us take her.” Yamashita shook his head again and hugged her tighter to him rocking her back and forth.

 Shige tensed, expecting the nurses to yank Maki from Yamashita’s arms and probably put him down too.

 “What are you going to do with her?” Yamashita asked.

 “She can’t stay in the room with Erika, you know that. Maki might hurt her, you know that too, but we will take care of her. You can come see her anytime you want. I'll tell the nurses to let you stay with her as long as you want.”

 Finally Yamashita nodded. “I’ll take her.”

 “Okay.” With that, Kimura helped him stand up, still holding Maki in his arms and they walked away.

 ~~~~~~

Shige was in his room. Neither he nor his roommate talked. They were worried about too many things.

 Yamashita had finally come back and had told them that Maki was still asleep and that a nurse would keep watch. They all knew her and trusted her, she was a good woman and probably Yamashita had listened to every thought in her head before leaving her alone with an almost catatonic Maki

 They were also worried about Erika since she was now alone in her room. She had refused to have a new roommate and taking into account all that was happening with the patients, it was a good idea not to be close to anyone they didn’t know. Still, she shouldn’t be alone right now.

 Shige’s thoughts stopped as a noise came from behind one of the walls. He sat on his bed and saw that Tegoshi had done the same. His roommate came down and they both stared at the wall listening to the noises that were getting closer.

 Tegoshi got behind Shige right before a hand hit the vent cover and they both jumped back. Again the hand pushed the vent cover.

 “Would you mind helping me?”

 “Erika?” Shige asked and hurried to the vent.

 “Hi,” she greeted from the other side of the cover.

 “What are you doing here?” Shige asked once he and Tegoshi helped her out.

 Erika looked down. “Well, I didn’t want to be alone and I just thought… I could sleep on the floor…”

 “You are not sleeping on the floor!” Shige and Tegoshi said at the same time.

 “I really don’t mind,” she chuckled. And looked up at Shige again. He smiled and took her hair out of her face.

 “Hi,” he said.

 “Hi,” she answered and Shige put his lips on hers softly.

 “I guess I can share my bed,” interrupted Tegoshi. Shige looked at him with a frown.

 “She’s not sharing your bed!”

 Tegoshi just laughed.

 “You can sleep in my bed. I can sleep on the floor,” he told Erika.

 “That doesn’t seem fair… And I don’t mind sharing.” Well, Shige was not about to argue with that.

 Tegoshi went up to his bed and Erika sat on Shige’s bed looking at him. He went to the bed and they both lay down under the covers.

 “If you are uncomfortable I c-can sleep on the floor,” she said. “I really didn’t want to be alone.”

 Shige put his arms around her. “I didn’t want you to be alone.” He kissed her slowly, it was more comforting than passionate but it was what she needed, what they both needed really. They kissed for a long time.

 “I would really appreciate if you tried to remember I’m in the room and that I’m highly impressionable.” Tegoshi interrupted from his bed. Shige rolled his eyes and Erika chuckled. She kissed Shige’s neck and cuddle closer to him and after a while they all fell asleep.

 

~~~~~~

 

In one of the basement rooms, a room that had been closed down so tight that only one person had been there in decades, a filmy black veil could be seen. It expanded and retracted rhythmically. The beings felt the veil was getting bigger and the restraints weaker.

 15 shadows came out, clawing the way out and sensed the energy right away. Madness and fear called out to them. They floated through rooms. Humans sleeping, dreaming. Many were already taken, being fed off by others of their kind. And only a handful was off limits. They sensed three free humans in a room, one male and one female very close together and one male a little apart. They tried to get closer and were repelled. They screamed in rage but moved on as they knew those were not for them; there were plenty others to choose from.

 

~~~~~~

 

Shige woke. He thought he heard screams. He listened carefully but heard nothing.  He looked next him and turned, facing Erika and leaving his arm around her waist. She was breathing softly with her lips slightly opened. Her hair was completely out of her face. She didn’t cower away when he moved it away now but she was still a little uncomfortable, Shige could tell. He put his head on one of his arms and took the other away from her and traced the scar softly with his fingers, then he did the same with the other smaller scars.

 “You never asked me how I got them,” Erika whispered.

 “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up,” he whispered back. She shook her head and looked at him. “No, I never asked you. I figured you would tell me when you were ready. And they really don’t matter to me.”

 Grabbing him by the neck she scooted closer and kissed him and then licked at the bottom lip, he opened his mouth and let her lead the kiss. His arms went around her and he rolled her so that she was on top of him, and so his arms could go up and down her back.

 “Yuya is still up there in his bed,” she reminded him.

 “Thank you, Eri. I was debating whether I should interrupt you guys or put a pillow over my head and go to a happy place.”

 Erika laughed and Shige snapped at him: “Don’t you ever sleep?”

 “Sure I do, it’s just…” his roommate hesitated.

 “Something woke you?” Shige asked.

 “Yeah, must have been a dream.”

 “Something woke me too. I thought I heard screams, but I couldn’t hear anything after that. Did you hear anything Erika?”

 “No, no one is here with us. Not even Sophie.”

 “It’s probably a coincidence,” Shige concluded, but tightened his hold on Erika as the three of them tried to go back to sleep.

 

~~~~~~

 

December 1963

 

She was sitting in the strange living room in the strange house she had found herself living in. She hated it here and she cursed the day her husband had accepted a job in this godforsaken place. She missed her home back in Paris.

 Her husband was sitting in front of her reading.

 "What is it?" He asked without lifting his eyes. His was the only voice she could hear speaking her mother tongue and she was starting to resent even that.

 "What do you mean?" She looked away and started to stand up.

 He set the book down and finally looked at her. "I could feel you burning a hole on me. What is it?"

 "Nothing. At least, nothing new."

 "If you would go out more..."

 “Where?" She interrupted. "I don't know anybody, I don't know anything. I can't really get to know anybody since I don't even speak the language. And I go out and people just stare at me. That's all they do, stare. I feel watched the whole time, even in here. I feel..."

 "Calm down, Sophia. It's just being in a new place. People are curious. This is a small village, most of them have probably never seen a foreigner, much less a beautiful big blue eyed blond."

 Sophia smirked. "You are just trying to sweeten me up."

 "I am trying to sweeten you up, but that doesn't make it any less true."

 "I want to go back home."

 "No."

 "Alain, pl..."

 "No, that's final."

 The phone rang. Sophia heard Alain pick up and answer in a language that sounded like weird gibberish to her.

 "I have to go." He told her while he was getting his things.

 She didn't want him to go. She hated this place, she hated his job, but she held her tongue. He was the husband, and a good husband, and she had been raised properly, to love and honor the man she married.

 He kissed her. "As soon as I have a day off, we'll go somewhere. There are other villages around here, we can go see them. Getting out of the house will be good for you."

 She nodded. One more kiss and he was gone. The feeling at the back of her head came back. The feeling of being watched.

 

~~~~~

 

"Laroux sensei," the young nurse greeted the doctor with a cold tone that exuded efficiency. She was pretty but her face was constantly set in a hard expression.

 "Nurse Anne," he greeted back.

 "Thank you for coming in."

 "What is the problem?" The man asked in his French accent.

 "I'm not sure myself," Anne answered managing to keep the insecurity out of her voice. She was an expert on hiding what she felt. "Katori sensei asked us all to come in. It seems to be an emergency meeting."

 The foreign doctor frowned. "What could it be?"

 Anne simple shook her head. She had no idea. She hoped they were closing the place down. She hated it there. She felt like she was losing her mind and in her case that was a distinct possibility. One she was terrified of.

 She came from a long line of mental patients. It was what had driven her to specialize in the area, but there was always the possibility of her developing an illness. And ever since she took this job, she had started to think it was finally happening.

 She was having dreams, horrible dreams. She was starting to hear and see things whenever she was in the asylum. Her heart started pounding harder when she went near some places in the institution. Of course, she kept quiet.

 At work she put on a neutral and sometime harsh expression, looking professional, and somehow managed to not react when she saw or heard something she wasn't supposed to.

 Whenever she talked to her mother back home she managed to sound as always and diverted the conversation to her arranged marriage. Her mother was happy to talk about that. That was normal, which was proof that Anne herself was normal and not like her sister and her grandmother.

 Anne was not feeling normal at all as she walked along the corridor with the doctor. It was well illuminated but it still seemed gloomy. As they made their way a distinct voice came from behind them. They both whipped their heads suddenly. There was nothing there. Nothing but the feeling of not being just the two of them.

 "Did... did you hear that, sensei?"

 The dark hair doctor looked at her. There was a glint in his hazel eyes but he said: "I don't know what you are talking about." His French accent more noticeable now. Anne had noticed that happened when the doctor was worried or preoccupied. She said nothing, however, and kept on walking.

 She knew he had heard. He had turned at the same time she had, and then there was that glint in his eyes. He knew. It wasn't just her. He knew.

 Nurse Anne and Laroux sensei got to the meeting room. Everybody else was already there. Kitayama sensei was sitting to the right of Takizawa sensei, fidgeting as if he couldn't keep still. After that there was Oguri sensei talking to Hiro sensei in a hushed tone. There was another nurse, Tabe san. And there was also Kamenashi sensei.

 And, presiding everything, there was Katori sensei.

 The man looked up as they came in and gave them a wide smile. It was friendly in a way but Anne felt a shiver go down her spine. "Please come in and take a sit. Now that we are all here we can start." He sat down, the smile never leaving his face.

 There was a big window and Anne could see a storm outside. There was lightning and far away thunder. She felt the urge to jump and run out but she stayed.

 "I have good news... maybe I should say it is more a proposition. You have a choice to make today that will change your life..."

  
  


Three hours later, the door opened and they got out. They had all accepted the proposition. Some of them were not sure how that had happened. They just hadn't been able to resist.

 They all walked numbly. All with blank stares. Katori sensei remained in the room, sitting on his chair with a satisfied smile. Behind him a shadow took a humanoid form and leaned over next to him by his ear and the murmurs started.

 

~~~~~

 

A year later, only Katori Sensei remained. He was beginning to train his young twin sons on how to manage the asylum.

 Tabe Mikako was rumored to have moved to another hospital, but no records could have been found of her anywhere, had someone looked.

 Kamenashi sensei vanished. One day his apartment was found empty. Furniture and clothes were found inside but the married couple or their baby son had vanished into thin air.

 Ouguri sensei did marry her fiancé but died in a strange accident two months after the wedding. He had been drinking while driving.

 Hiro sensei, missing.

 Kitayama sensei, missing.

 Laroux sensei was thought to have gone back to France a month after the meeting. The truth is his family and his wife’s family looked for them for 20 years before giving up, finally believing that they were dead.

 Takizawa sensei killed himself two days before the year after the meeting was up.

 Anne was institutionalized in a different asylum. She found a way to kill herself eventually.

A year later, only Katori sensei was left. Alive, but not sane.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *

The next day Maki seemed to be a little better, which merely meant she wasn’t banging her head against the wall. She still wouldn’t speak to anybody, though, not even Yamashita, who would spend most of his time with her.

Fujigaya was getting worse little by little. Everybody knew he was in pain but he hid it. There was no hiding it from Koyama, though, who tried not to get too close but still wouldn’t leave him alone.

Shige was walking with Erika. She had told the others where they were going and they would go find them if they took longer than two hours tops and of course Sophie was with them. He, however had no idea where they were going.

They ended up in a big office on the other side of the building, the abandoned side, with a view of the mountains.

“Wow, look at that view,” Shige exclaimed.

“It was the office of one of the director, from the 70’s or maybe 60’s? I don’t really remember now. It is said that at the end he was obsessed with the place so he made this office. There is a full bathroom over there and the next door leads to the room where he used to sleep. They say that he was so obsessed with curing the mentally ill that he spent his nights coming up with crazy and awful treatments he would later try on the patients. Finally, some of the most dangerous inmates escaped their cells and attacked him and took revenge for what the doctor had done. They never found the whole body. But even though he was dead, he refused to leave his work behind and now his spirit still wonders his office, still thinking treatments to use on unsuspecting visitors…” Erika finished with an ominous tone of voice.

Shige lifted an eyebrow. “Well? Do you hear a tortured soul in the room waiting to attack us?”

Erika smirked. “Oh, yes, and I’m terrified.” They both laughed. He had to admit that he had thought her ability was creepy, but it did come in handy in a place infested with weirder things than rats.

Shige looked around. The office was decorated in an old style. Kind of like a film noir. It even had those wood slatted blinds. It also looked clean, which caught Shige’s attention since it was in an abandoned side of the building and he said so to Erika.

“Yeah, we keep it clean.” Shige lifted his eyebrows and Erika explained. “Maki and Yamashita use it when they… want to be alone. The rest of us used to come here to be alone too but we started feeling uncomfortable being alone anywhere so… it’s been used by Maki and Yamashita.” Quickly Erika changed the subject: “It’s nice, isn’t it? Sort of like being in a film noir.” Was she blushing?

“That’s what I was thinking.”

“Yeah. Before we came here from the States, before the accident, I used to watch those old movies with my mom. She loved them.” It was the first time she mentioned her mother. 

“Did… did she come here with you?”

"No. Me and my dad came when I was 14. My father came to manage a new branch of one of his companies."

Man, one of his companies. Dad was loaded!

"Only you and your dad came?"

"Yes, my mom had died.”

“I’m sorry.”

Erika shrugged. “She died many years ago. She was really pretty. I remember she loved to throw parties, which was perfect for the wife of someone like my father. I remember how proud he was when people complimented him or his beautiful wife and his cute little girl, I used to be really cute.” 

“You still are,” he said with a sideway smile.

“I learned ballet, piano, everything that was expected in high society, too… Yeah, the perfect family.”

“That sounds nice.”

“Well not quite.”

She was silent for a few minutes. “Why not?” Shige dared to asked.

“My dad had affairs, I figured this a long time after, but he did and my mother knew. They still played their part for other people but... My mom tried to get him to stop seeing other women but my dad thought that it was the rule for a man of his station, whatever that means. I don’t know why she never left, but she didn’t and she started drinking. She had always been… unstable and that didn’t help.

"One day she got really mad at my dad, I never knew why but she took me out of bed and dragged me to her car and she drove off. She was crying and I was scared. I kept asking what was wrong and she kept mumbling things, 'bastard', 'we are better off without him', 'I'll show him' while she drove very fast at night. She never saw the other car. 

“I woke up days later in a hospital with one arm and one leg broken, a severe concussion and several cuts on my face and head, burnt wounds..."

"How old were you?"

"12. I guess it's important to say that up until then I never heard any voices, nothing. When I woke up I heard voices around me. I was full of pain killers and my face was so swollen I couldn’t really speak, so nothing really happened. When I started answering to questions nobody had asked, though..."

"Everybody thought you were crazy." Erika nodded. 

“At first they thought it was a brain injury and then the trauma.”

"And that's how you got the scar? The accident?"

She nodded again "A scar like this in anybody's face is bad enough but in the circles my dad moved, you would think it's a sin. I mean he was happy I survived and all but I don’t know, I guess I wasn’t cute anymore and I wasn’t presentable, I don’t know. The bottom line is that my dad never took me anywhere, and I didn’t mind it either. I could see their faces when people saw me.” 

“Come on,” Shige interrupted, “you don’t look that bad. Yes, it’s a big scar but you are not… Kuchisake onna*”

“Ah! I’ve been accused of that!” She said and laughed at his appalled look. 

“Come on.”

“It’s true. Not before I came here of course. High School kids are cruel. It’s fine, I don’t mind it any more. It’s not bad here, usually and I cover my face mostly out of habit… except when someone new comes.” She looked at him apologetically.

Shige looked at her. He didn’t see what the big deal was, other than the awful accident. He leaned in to touch her lips with his. He traced the shape of her lips with his tongue until she opened and let him in. He followed the line of her spine and when he got to the rim of her shirt he lifted it to touch the skin under it.

She broke the kiss and stared at each other for a second. She smiled at him, and grabbing his hand she lead him to one of the doors. When she opened it and they stepped in, Shige saw a room of decent size, again decorated in an old style. Oh, and there was a bed.

“Um, so this is the bedroom?”

“I told you this is where Maki and Yamashita came to be alone,” Erika said, definitely blushing.

She was starting to lose her nerve; fortunately Shige wasn’t and kissed her again, catching on very fast.

He sat on the bed and Erika sat on his lap, straddling him. He trailed kisses on her cheek and to her ear and the down the column of her neck. She tilted her head back to give him more access until he found the scar he had already seen there. It was dangerously close to the jugular. She lifted his head to kiss him again on the lips.

He lifted her shirt and she broke the kiss to lift her arms so he could remove it. Erika forced the insecurity that came barreling down when he did that. She half expected him to see the scars and change his mind but she had made up her mind and she refused to stop until he did.

On her shoulder there was a rectangular scar. Shige traced it and looked up at Erika, questioningly.

“Piece of metal went through my shoulder. Didn’t touch any organ or broke the bone.” He kissed it, wrapping his arms around her waist. Then went down the collar bone and further down. Below her breast, on the same side, there was a vertical thin scar. Again, he traced it and again she explained.

“Piece of glass, I think. The one below as well.”

He lifted her up and they lay on the bed. He kissed down her stomach and slid her trousers down her hips and revealed her legs.

“That was an external fracture. Took months in rehab.”

He kissed from the inside of her thigh to the outside not missing the thick scar that went through the outer side of her thigh.

“This has to be the weirdest sex talk,” she mumbles and then groaned when he nipped her hip.

“Probably,” he chuckled.

“Hey! Do you have some sort of fetish? Is that it?”

“Mhh, I didn’t before… Maybe you gave me one.”

“Perv,” she laughed.

“Oh you have no idea,” he wiggled his eyebrows. “And now I’ll have my way with you.” She gave out a peal of laughter when he nipped her neck and tickle her sides. The laughter didn’t last long though.

 

Shige was lying on the bed with one hand behind his head and the other around Erika’s shoulder tracing her spine…

“I’m telling you, I think you do have a fetish.” She said when she felt his fingers linger on the scar tissue from a burnt would on her upper arm.

“And I’m telling it’s your fault. But you were talking before I so rudely interrupted you.”

“Right. So I wasn’t cute and bubbly anymore. I was homeschooled and I eventually learnt that the voices were from dead people and I learnt how to distinguish it from the voices of the living, so I stopped talking to thin air."

"But how did you end up here?"

"My dad married the Wicked Witch of Asia. When I was 14 my father moved here. He had met my step-mother on a business trip and had decided to marry her 4 months after he met her. We arrived to Japan, they married, moved in together and no more homeschooling for me. She insisted I should socialize with people my own age no matter 'how awful I looked'. I was enrolled in an American school and I was basically ostracized, when not mocked. 

Shige tighten his grasp on her. He knew how that was, though it had probably been worse for her.

“It’s okay. I became friends with a boy, though. I don’t want to talk about him too much but I ended up trusting him. I guess he was my boyfriend? I told him I could hear voices. Bad idea. Turns out he dated me because of some bet and then he told everybody what had told him. My dad heard and was furious ‘Thought you had stopped with all that nonsense. You are exactly as your mother! You are as crazy as she was! I should have had you committed…’ well, you get the gist.”

“Like you mother? Did your mother hear dead people too?”

“I don’t know, he never really said. After that it all went downhill. My father wasn’t the warmest or most understanding person. My stepmother heard and she saw an opportunity. Apparently she wasn’t happy with sharing my dad and his fortune with me. She bought doctors and I ended up institutionalized and then transferred here." She smiled a little. "Tegoshi was here already and we became friends."

"You two seem close."

"Yes.”

There was something he wanted to ask but wasn’t sure she wouldn’t take it the wrong way.

“Did you ever… I mean, did you and him… I wouldn’t mind,” he would a little, “but maybe you two…”

She frowned a little. “Oh, no,” she said laughing. “It’s not like that for either of us. I helped him with... some things and he was there when... when my dad died."

"He died?"

"Yes, he got sick sometime after I came here. He signed my custody to his wife since I was underaged at the time and not fit mentally. And now I'm stuck here."

"But you were talking to a man..."

"My uncle. He came to see me but he's, well... just useless. And the thing is... I know she killed him, my dad I mean. She wanted everything he had. And now she has it."

"How do you know?"

"Sophie. She told me. So of course I’m not a 100% sure but, she’s never lied to me. Hers was one of the voices I first heard.”

“But if they make tests you can get out no matter what she says…”

“Nobody leaves this place. Maybe if Kimura sensei transfers me but he brought me here so I doubt it.”

“You think your step mother paid him?”

“For some reason, no. But I don’t really know what to think.” She sighed. “We better get back.”

“Don’t want to,” he whined and kissed the spot behind her ear while he traced her rib cage down her hip and then her thigh. He cupped her kneecap and lifted her leg over his hip.

“If we don’t come back, they’ll come to get us and Tegoshi never knocks,” she reminded him, acting as the voice of reason before she couldn’t care less.

Shige groaned. “Fine.”

She got up first and started to dress while he watched her.

“Stop that,” she complained.

“Sorry. We’ve established that I’m a perv, this is what we do.”

She rolled her eyes and threw one of his shoes at him. “Get dressed.”

“I’m going. Are you gonna start nagging me now?”

“Of course.” He laughed until he saw something on one of the walls almost hidden by the bed. He finished dressing up and got closer. It was a design like the ones he saw in his room. He showed it to Erika. She had no idea what it was.

“Have you seen it in your room?” He asked. She shook her head. 

“Let’s go.” Shige grabbed her hand and started for the door out of the office before they got out Erika hissed and put her hands on her ears. He put his arm around her.

“What is it?”

“Screams. Three different people… and… and a shrill… it’s nothing like I’ve heard before.”

The screams were loud but that shrill froze Erika’s blood.

“Let’s go.” She heard Shige say as he helped her straighten.

“No! It’s outside.”

They both froze. Erika could hear something outside the door. It had stopped screaming and it seemed to be sniffing.

“What can you hear?” He asked.

“It’s outside, sni…” She was interrupted by a loud bang on the door. They both jumped back. The banging continued, rattling the door. They backed up against the opposite wall and sat down against it. She was hanging on to Shige as tightly as she could and he did the same thing, both staring at the door.

The door rattled, once, twice, three times and then it bust open. They could see nothing out there but Erika heard a final shrill yell and then everything was quiet.

They were both left trembling huddled together until they calmed enough to get up and run back to the rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Kuchisake-Onna: http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/Kuchisake-Onna


	17. Chapter 17

                                                                            

 

Shige was tired. He hadn’t been able to sleep the night before, after what had happened with Erika how could he? Not the first part, that had been amazing, but what happened afterwards with whatever that had been behind the door. It still gave him the chills every time he thought about it. He hadn’t seen or heard anything at first, but then the door started banging and he heard a loud scream at the moment the door had opened, becoming loose at the hinds.

Another thing that was disturbing his sleep was those markings on the walls and floors. After he and Erika had returned and told the others what had happened they had gone to each of their rooms and had discovered the same markings hidden somewhere. They had also checked other rooms and found nothing. And they were still in the dark about everything else.

It was the next morning and he and Tegoshi had come back from Erika’s room. She had slept in their room again but when she had to come back to her room they had walked… well crawled the vents back with her. He hated the thought of her alone in that room, but she wouldn’t be there for long.

Tegoshi was pacing up and down the room.

"Tegoshi, what is it?” Shige had the hunch that there was something else on the other man’s mind.

His roommate turned around and Shige and there was a frown and something in his eyes but it was gone so fast, replaced by a wink and a smile, that Shige was almost convinced they hadn’t been there. However, by now he knew his roommate "What's wrong?"

"I have to leave the room for a while."

Shige's jaw dropped. "What?"

"Sorry I can't stay in a room with anybody for some days. I'll tell Kimura sensei, he is usually fine with changing rooms when it comes to us.” Yes, Kimura sensei was very accommodating when it was them, which always baffled Shige and made him wonder…

“I wish G was here," Tegoshi sighed, interrupting Shige’s rambling thoughts.

"Wait, wait. What's this about? Is this about how you are dangerous and you can't be around people?"

Tegoshi bit his lip and looked down.

"I think it's time you told me what you can do and why it makes you dangerous."

Tegoshi didn’t say anything, but at least sat down on one of the chairs licking and biting on his lower lip.

"You are going to chew your lip raw!" Shige snapped after an eternity waiting for the other man to speak. "Sorry" he said after taking a deep breath "Look, you don’t have to tell me everything. I just want to understand why you are so scared and if there is anything I can do. I honestly don’t like the idea of you being alone with all that's happened."

Tegoshi sighed "I guess I owe it to you. You did tell me about you and I did get what happened with Erika out of you. Don't feel bad I got it out of her, too." He said with a small smile.

"You are evil." Shige chuckled.

His smile disappeared. "In more ways than you know."

Shige frowned. The guys was a little manipulative to get what he wanted but he was definitely not... evil.

“I told you before I’m a medium.”

“Yes, but I’m not sure what it means.”

“It means that spirits can use me, well they can posses me. I don’t know when it started. I know that I was given to tantrums… violent ones so maybe it had always happened, except, what can a spirit do in the body of a baby or toddler?” Shige nodded even though he wasn’t sure if he was following.

“Anyway, my mother knew I was possessed. I don’t really know how. She was very religious and well she used to say that she had expected it. ‘I knew it, you were never supposed to happen, I knew that you would turn out this way from the beginning’ she used to mumble. Bottom line is she didn’t send me to doctors to try to cure me, she called priests and monks to exorcise me. It wasn’t… I mean I got out of it beat up and exhausted but I guess it did help. None of the spirits stayed inside so…”

Tegoshi stood up and seemed like he was about to start pacing again but instead leaned back against the small desk.

“Anyway, my mum was not right in the head, you know? That’s where I come from, I guess. At first it wasn’t that bad. My dad was with us and he would keep her from getting too out of hand. He also knew I was getting possessed but he stopped things from getting too… intense. I remember him telling how to try to stop it at time, he understood…” Tegoshi stopped talking and just looked at his hands nibbling on his lip once again.

“But he just disappeared when I was 7, just left. I don’t blame him. Can you imagine living with a religious nut and a demon ridden son? At night, sometimes he would come while he thought I was asleep. He would touch my hair and say ‘I’m sorry, sorry,’ over and over again. I remember wondering what he was sorry about. I guess he had been thinking about leaving for quite some time.

“I went to live with my father’s father. That was the best. Grandpa was nice to me and he was never mad at me when the demons came. He would tie me up, yes, but he never hurt me. He never said I was a mistake. He did look sad all the time but I understood, he was stuck with me even though his health was not good.

“It didn’t last long. Probably tension and the situation caught up to him and he passed away a year later. I was back with my mother and she got worse. She called exorcists even when I wasn’t possessed. She said that I was attracting demons and so I must be a demon myself. I wonder why she never killed me…” He looked pensive for a few seconds before he shrugged.

“Many priests refused to perform any type of ritual on a child. She found someone eventually when I was possessed again. I don’t remember much of the first part. When I’m possessed I don’t really know what’s happening. The spirit left half way through but the priest and my mother thought that they needed to finish driving the evil out of me. That’s when I got this.” Tegoshi took off his t-shirt and turned around. Shige had already seen the scar but now he could see the detail. It was a cross and the burnt even showed an intricate design.

“What the… did they burn you with a cross?”

Tegoshi shrugged. “Then I would have the mark of God to protect me. It’s okay, I recover very quickly. G said it is part of my ability; since the possessions are usually violent, I bounce back fast from them.

“Anyway, that day one of the neighbors heard the screaming and shouting and called the police. I remember bits and parts. The police burst in and took them. Then I remember someone lifting me up and then I was in a hospital bed. I tried to explain the doctors I was dangerous, that I might hurt them. When I’m possessed I change. I’m… stronger, I don’t know how to describe it because I’ve never really seen it myself but I have hurt people. Of course they though my mother had pass on her delusions to me. I ended up in children centers. Everybody liked me at first but after the first time they saw me possessed they transferred me.

“They did that for almost a year. I ended up with a foster family. They were actually nice and they specialized on difficult cases. They were so nice to me. I started to feel it coming and I tried to hide but…” he shrugged. “They ended up calling a doctor, I think I broke a doctor’s arm or something… I hurt two of the children in the home before they could stop me. They decided I WAS a danger and I was brought here.”

“How old were you?”

“Almost 13. My mother had also been locked up. I honestly don’t know if she is out or what happened to her. She never tried to contact me, I didn’t expected her to… I mean I…” He frowned and shook his head “No, I didn’t really expected her to try to find me. I ended up here in the children’s ward, though I was isolated due to my ‘psychotic outburst.’ Then, I got a new doctor and he helped me. He even saw one of the ‘outbursts’ and he believed me when I said I was possessed. It was G.”

“He used to be a doctor here?”

Tegoshi nodded. “Kamui Gakuto sensei. He was really good too. He medicated me and it worked. It didn’t completely stop the possession but they were much further apart. It’s been a couple years since the last one. He was more than just a doctor; I guess I needed a father figure that he could fill, so I adopted him. Not that I said anything, I worried all the time that he would have enough and leave, but he didn’t. At 15 the children’s ward was closed down and I was transferred to the adults’ ward. I little after that Erika came. She was my age and she was like me and once I harassed her until she caved in and talked to me, I adopted her too. See, I had a dad and a sister now.” He laughed again, a little livelier now. “She was also G’s patient and he believed she could actually talk to ghosts. There were others with abilities, too, all patients of his.”

“How did he end up locked up?”

“I never knew the whole story. I guess he started telling people that we weren’t crazy and then Erika told him something she heard from another inmate. A dead inmate. She was supposed to have committed suicide, but she told Erika one of the male nurses was abusing some of the women and killed her to shut her up. She came to me and we noticed that he was looking the women, the youngest ones, in a weird way so we decided to tell G. The man showed up dead and G ended up here as a violent patient. It was said that working with us made his own unknown pathology more acute. We felt guilty for a long time but then we were allowed to see him. He told us that what happened was not our fault that he hadn’t killed the man but since he had been trying to convince people not all the crazies were crazy they had just locked him up. He kept helping us even from that place.”

 

“So he’s not really a violent patient?”

“Well, he is violent… but only when he defends us or something really bad happens… Anyway, that’s more or less how it all happened. You know, Erika also saw me get possessed. I felt it coming so I was restrained but it was still nasty. She didn’t even flinch. Okay, I was pretty much her only friend here, or anywhere else but still, she stood by me. Then the rest came and you know the story.” Silence. “Questions, comments?”

“Uuhhmm several. Okay. You said that G had patients with abilities. What happened to them? Are they still here?”

“No. They are part of the patients who disappeared. I think a couple of them were transferred. The only ones of his patients left are Erika and I.”

“Have weird things been happening since you came here?”

“Yes. I’m sure you felt it too. Voices, seeing things out of the corner of your eye, even being followed. It all happened before I came but I don’t know more than what we already told you”

“Okay. So, now the drugs are losing their effect and you think you might get possessed and hurt me because you think that somehow you are evil.”

Tegoshi looked down and whispered, “yeah.”

“Okay. Look, even if it’s as bad as you say, I don’t believe you’re evil. Manipulative, loud and annoying yes, but not evil. I’m not gonna lie, I do feel like freaking out a little. Part of me doesn’t really believe you are that dangerous. And part of me… well just went to a happy place ‘cause it can’t cope. But if you were evil, your face would have changed. The drugs have worn off by now, and I see freaky faces all over now, and you still look the same. Besides, I know that I would feel like the worst shit in the world if I let you stay alone and something happens to you.”

“You wouldn’t be…”

“AND, Biceps would swoop in and be a hero and stay with you and that would really mess up my day, week, and month, possibly the whole year, so you are staying and we’ll figure something out and that’s that. And let’s just go take a shower and let me freak out on the inside.”

In silence, they made their way to the showers.


	18. Chapter 18

                                                                                       

 

Shige was still thinking about what Tegoshi had told him, though he had already stopped freaking out.

They were sitting in the common area. They didn’t have many options but to wait and see if G would come back from wherever he had been taken to and to see if he knew something about what was going on. Those were two very big “ifs.”

He was sitting next to Erika but looking at Fijigaya. He hadn’t said anything yet but the other man’s face was starting to change. In the past the faces had morphed fast, in a matter of seconds. With Fujigaya, and other patients, the change was slow, changing a little at the time. He hadn’t noticed at first but he was sure now. If they didn’t stop what was happening to him… well Shige didn’t know what the hell was going to happen, which was somehow worse.

Erika got up and asked Tegoshi to follow her.

“Wow, I’m impressed,” he heard Koyama say in a low voice. “Very little jealousy.”

They both chuckled. It was true, Shige understood better the relationship they both had.

“Why are you so scared?” Koyama asked low enough so that only Shige could hear.

“With all that’s happening do I need to answer that?”

“It’s a specific fear that intensifies when you look at Fujigaya.”

Damn him. Shige took a deep breath. “He’s changing.”

Koyama nodded.

At that moment Erika came back and Tegoshi left with one of the nurses, one of the good, safe nurses, Shige noticed looking at the man’s face.

Fujigaya seemed to snap from the trance he had been in.

“I have to get out of here. I need air,” he said

“I’ll go with you,” Koyama said.

“I don’t need a fucking nanny,” Fujigaya snapped. Koyama simply looked at him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

“It’s okay, let’s go.”

They both left, leaving Shige uncomfortable that those two were alone together.

“Do you mind coming with me?” Erika asked Shige.

“Sure.”

They walked in silence for a while. Shige wanted to know what she and Tegoshi had talked about but knew she would tell him when she was ready.

“Tegoshi told you about him.”

It wasn’t a question but Shige answered anyway. “Yes. Is… is it as bad as he says?”

Erika took a while to answer.

“Yes, it is. I can’t really describe it but it’s awful. For him mostly. Specially afterwards. He thinks another episode is coming and he’s scared.”

“Because the drugs are wearing off?”

“Because he feels it coming. That’s why we are here.” She stopped and sat on the floor a one of the halls. Shige sat next to her.

“What are we doing here?” They were near Kimura sensei’s office. Before answering she moved to sit between his legs and leaned back. Shige put his arms around her without even thinking about it.

“Waiting in case Yuya needs us.”

 

~~~~~~

 

Tegoshi was walking to Massu’s office. He was reluctant to go mainly for two reasons: One, even though he really, really liked the doctor, or maybe because of that, he felt nervous whenever he was around him. He tried to use his “crazy personality” as usual but for some reason he wanted the doctor to see what he was really like. He really wished he was normal around him.

Reason number two, he was feeling the signs of an “episode.” They weren’t really seizures or episodes as some doctors called it, but it was as good a name as any. He felt that crawling under his skin; he had been hearing the murmurs since that morning in the showers with Shige but hadn’t been sure at the time. He was already feeling that weird, numb sensation on his limbs. Something was coming and he knew from experience that all he could do was endure it, hope he didn’t hurt anybody and hope that by the end of the experience he still had his friends and that they wouldn’t avoid him or try to get rid of him. But they had time. He would end the session and then go get the drugs and hope they were enough to keep him contained, if not completely knocked out.

  
  


Tegoshi knocked on the door and Masuda told him to come in. Masuda tried to think of him as “the patient” to keep the distance in his head but it was hard to remain distant. Tego… The patient came in and jumped on the chair where he crouched.

“So, this is a new office, ne Massu?” He had tried to get him to add sensei or even san, again to keep a distance, but it had been no use, he was stuck with Massu. And he would never admit it, but he kinda liked it when he called him that.

“Yes, what do you think?” He asked just to start the conversation.

“It’s smaller, but it is brighter, so it suits you.” Perceptive little bugger, that had been exactly why he had changed offices.

“Glad you like it. How are things with you roommate?” The patient seemed to think about it. It was odd, usually he moved around more, talked more and with a high pitch voice. Today he was more serious.

“Good. He shouldn’t be here. He’s completely sane,” he said matter of factly and not for the first time.

The patient was starting to look nervous. His eyes moved suddenly to the side. He was rubbing the back of his neck. Something was off.

 

“Are you okay, Tegoshi-kun?” He heard the doctor say. He didn’t answer. It was coming, he had been wrong, there was no time. He couldn’t be in a closed space with just the other man, he might hurt him. Oh, God! It was coming!

  
  


Tegoshi was breathing hard, murmuring something.

“Tell her, tell her.” That’s what he was murmuring. He was still crouching on the chair. Masuda came closer to the patient and saw his eyes do something weird, like they had changed the shade of brown, and for a second they seemed completely black. It had been just a trick of the light since it was just for a second and now they were normal again.

“Tegoshi-kun, listen to me.”

“Don’t come closer, get the drugs, put me out.” Shit, Masuda had forgotten the drugs, the chief had warned him, but he had never needed them before and he had started to think they were something the other doctors used when they didn’t know what to do with Tegoshi.

Tegoshi looked at him with utter terror in his eyes. “Then get out and lock the door. Leave me in here and call the rest… just… hurt…”

Masuda had to calm him down. Tegoshi was starting to shake, badly.

He reached out and grabbed Tegoshi’s face in his hands: “Yuya! Listen to me, just focus on…” Tegoshi went instantly still and they stayed for a few seconds like that, just looking at each other.

“How did you do that?” Tegoshi asked

  
  


It was gone. It had been about to start and it was gone. The moment the other man put his hand on him, Tegoshi heard a loud scream in his head and then it was all over. It had been the doctor, he was sure of it. No murmurs, no crawling sensation, just him, Masuda and Masuda’s warm hands on his face.

“You were just having a panic attack,” Masuda answered as he removed his hands. Tegoshi came barreling against him before he could stand up, and even though the other man was smaller, Masuda lost his balance and ended up sitting on the floor. Immediately after that he felt Tegoshi’s arm around him and his head resting on his chest, the trembling was not completely gone yet.

“Please, stay a little longer. Don’t leave just yet. I don’t want it to come back. Just a little longer, then I’ll leave and you can ask for a transfer to another patient, but let me stay a little longer, just a little, please?”

“I won’t leave you, it’s okay,” he whispered and hugged him back tightly with one arm while he soothingly caressed his hair.

  
  


There was a knock and the door opened. It was Kimura sensei. He saw them both hugging and Masuda caressing Tegoshi's hair and soothing him.  When Kimura came in Masuda didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t just push Tegoshi away after the almost attack but this didn’t look good. 

It was Tegoshi who pulled back. He did so hesitantly at first, tensing, like waiting for something to happen. When nothing did he said: “I’m sorry. I’m fine now. Th-thank you.”

“Erika came to get me,” Kimura sensei said.

“I’m fine now, really. I… I’ll call you if I feel… bad again.” Kimura sensei nodded but didn’t say anything.

“They are waiting for you. Go.” Tegoshi nodded and started to leave but Kimura stopped him. “G is back. He is okay. I knew you would be worried but he is fully recovered.”

Tegoshi bowed his head. “Thank you.” And then he left the room. He started running. He had to talk to G, fast.

 

"Wait, he almost had a panic attack. We have to make sure he's fine."

"He said he was fine,” Kimura sensei answered calmly. Masuda had to struggle to keep his face neutral. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

Masuda had noticed things he hadn’t questioned, yet. The suicide rate was through the roof. Patients were transferred with no apparent reason other than Kimura sensei wanted it that way. And he could not forget the treatment his patient and his "band" received. He knew they ran around pretty much as they pleased and that they struck deals with nearly every employee, though Masuda wasn't sure what the bargain was exactly. He knew Kimura sensei knew they ran around the facility, even around closed up and out of limits places, but he never did anything to stop it and wouldn’t let other doctors stop it either.

He couldn’t stop the questions anymore.

"What is going on here?" Masuda asked.

Kimura sensei lifted his eyebrows.

"Well one of the patients, Erika chan, told me Tegoshi-kun wasn’t feeling well today. I thought I could come and check on him, so I did and found you both hugging on the floor."

Masuda looked down. That almost shut him up. Almost.  

"He was having an attack and I calmed him down. I was talking about the lack of control some of the patients have, including mine, and I know who G is and you practically told my patient, who has enough problems, to go talk to a violent criminal."

"I didn’t tell him to go speak with the man, just that he was okay. He used to be his doctor and Tegoshi-kun is very fond of him, I just eased his mind."

"But you know he and the rest of them go to his cell and do nothing about it."

"Them?"

"Oh, don’t give me that. You know who they are. Everybody lets them do anything they want; I just don’t know what leverage they have on the doctors and nurses. You have to know this and I don’t know why you don’t do anything about it?"

"Because they are not hurting anybody. And let me go back to a previous point. Tegoshi-kun was having an... attack and you calmed him down? How exactly?”

Masuda would have resented the implication in that question except Kimura sensei didn’t seem accusatory, just curious.

"I put my hands on his face and told him to calm down."

Kimura sensei lifted his eyebrows in surprise. "And he just did?" Masuda nodded.

"How did you two end up on the floor?"

Masuda did his best not to blush but he did a little.

"He just needed comfort," he finally said lamely.

Kimura studied him with his eyes a little narrowed and pursing his lips.

"I was advised you might be able to help him I was not sure, but apparently, you can. You are right he and his friends do get some special treatment. They earned it, in a matter of speaking. That is why I'm not taking you off Tegoshi-kun's case in spite of what I saw."

Masuda was about to protest but Kimura sensei lifted a hand to stop him.

"Don’t say he's just a patient. You may help him a lot more in the future. Yes, you may save him in the future. You and I will have to talk soon. Not now, but soon." Masuda was not sure whether the doctor was talking to him or more to himself, he had spoken in a very soft and thoughtful voice. Then he just walked out leaving Masuda confused and with a lot more questions.

  
 

 


	19. Chapter 19

                                                                             

 

G was back but told Yamashita and Koyama he wasn’t well enough to see them. He had even asked them not to come in, so they were talking through the door. Even if they had decided to all go see him together, it was a good idea for Yamashita and Koyama to go first. G didn’t tell them what had happened to him, but he did sound tired.

 

“Don’t leave them alone but be careful,” he said through the door once Yamashita put him up to date from the outside since the door had been locked. It was a rare occurrence but it had happened before.

 

“What is wrong with them? I know you know something,” Yamashita said.

 

G took a deep breath. “I thought you all wanted to talk to me together.” He sighed. He sounded weary and Yamashita decided to bite his tongue and hold back. “Give me a week to recover and we will talk. If things get much worse come back.”

 

“Okay,” Yamashita answered disappointed, feeling more and more that they were alone.

 

“Yamashita, Koyama, I’m sorry I can’t be of more help now, but…” he remained silent for a few seconds. “We will all talk soon,” he finished.

 

Yamashita and Koyama went back to the rest lost in their own thoughts.

 

~~~~~~

 

It was about 9 at night and Masuda was walking down one of the halls. He hated to walk alone in that place, especially at night. He often felt someone behind him and when he turned around there was no one there; sometimes he even thought he heard voices. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. No sense in spooking himself out with something that was merely autosuggestion.

 

He was on call today and now that there weren’t many people around was the right time to do what he was planning. It had been 2 days since Tegoshi had had his panic attack and he couldn’t stop thinking about it and Kimura sensei’s reaction and everything else he had been noticing.

 

He wanted to see the records of the people that had been transferred and some of the patients who had died, as well as the records for Tegoshi’s group of friends. Since none of them were his patients Kimura sensei wouldn’t let him see their records, so there he was, with a borrowed… okay, stolen key to the records’ office to see if anything made sense. Something was going on and he wanted to know what. If the patients were being hurt intentionally, he had to do something. Not only for Tegoshi, no, it was more than that. Not just because he still thought about how he had fit perfectly against him, when he had comforted and hugged… his patient.

 

He felt like such a bastard. Especially when he remembered the dreams he had been having…

 

No, no, that was no good. He put aside those thoughts as he reached the door he was looking for. He opened it. He went to where the files were kept and opened one of many filing cabinets. The records were all digitalized but he had no access to them through a computer, he was lucky that paper records were also kept in case there was a system failure. He read through some of them with his flashlight in hand.

 

First, he read the files of the people who had died or killed themselves. The diagnoses were varied. They didn’t seem to have much in common. In the cases where it hadn’t been a suicide the cause of dead was always natural causes, always a heart attack or a stroke, even the last man who had died. Masuda knew it couldn’t be right, he had seen the body and it couldn’t have been a heart attack. As for the others, yes, it was possible that they had died of natural causes but there were just too many of them and most were just too young.

 

He noticed, however, that before they died their doctors had recorded signs of violence and that the patients were having hallucinations, even if hallucinations were not part of their illness. He checked on the patients who had committed suicide and found that they had similar notations on their files.

 

He moved on to read Koyama’s and then Kato’s files, then, he found Tegoshi’s. He opened it and saw Tegoshi’s picture. He was 12 at the time, all wide eyes with a sad and wild expression.

 

He felt someone watching him. He felt someone breathing. He tensed up and turned slowly around and jumped back with a little scream.

 

Ryo laughed from the door. “If you are going to sneak around, at least close the door.”

 

Masuda just glared at the man while his heart slowed down. “I wasn’t sneaking around. I… I…”

 

Ryo turned on the lights. “Don’t worry. No one else will come around here.”

 

“Why are you here?” Masuda asked.

 

“No, no. Don’t turn this on me,” the other man said and looked at what was in his hand. “Ah, looking for a peek of Tegoshi’s file?” the man chuckled. “You like the little looney toon? And before you deny it, I was around when Kimura sensei opened the door. He had brought me in case he needed help. As soon as I saw things were under control I made myself scarce… and by that I mean I eavesdropped behind the door. Oh wait, he is your patient, why are you sneaking around to look at the file of your own patient.”

 

Masuda wasn’t sure how to react to all to that. He had first wanted defend Tegoshi for being called “Looney toon,” then, he wanted to deny that he thought of him as anything else that a patient. Then he was appalled that the man had seen them that day, but then again it hadn’t been anything bad. Then, he didn’t know how to explain his presence there. Before he said anything the other man saw the files.

 

“Not just Tegoshi’s then,” he murmured with a frown. “What are you looking for?”

 

Masuda took a deep breath. He really couldn’t come up with a good explanation and if the other man talked he was in trouble. He did like Ryo but he had no idea how much he could trust the man.

 

“Okay.” Since he couldn’t come up with anything he would go with the truth. “I’m looking for some answers. I haven’t been here long but I know something’s wrong. Patients dying, being transferred.”

 

“These patients are not dead and they haven’t been transferred.” Ryo said pointing at a small pile of files.

 

“No, but they do get special treatment. They run around and go wherever they want.”

 

“Well, not wherever they want. They are still here, aren’t they?” Ryo said but he was looking down and rubbing the back of his neck.

 

“You have helped them, haven’t you? How do they get you to do that?” The other man hesitated. “Look I don’t mean them any harm and I’m not going to cause trouble for you. I just want to understand. Tegoshi… he is scared. I’ve noticed it in the last sessions, the others seem scared too. I’ve been watching them. Kimura sensei has always been a little weird but it has been worse lately. And… I don’t want you to think I’m crazy or a scary cat but this place is getting creepier by the minute.”

 

Ryo narrowed his eyes. “They have information. All kinds of information.”

 

“What do you mean and how do they get it?”

 

“They know where things… valuable things are hidden. Private things about people. They give you the info you need and we help them sneak out once in a while, we turn the other way if we see Yamashita and Maki when they go off together somewhere. It’s never been anything dangerous. I don’t really know where they get the info, but it’s always accurate. And I also know that Kimura sensei is very relaxed with them, although he does keep a very close eye. I don’t know why either.”

 

“And the other things?”

 

“That, I have no idea about. But I do know what you mean, this place is been getting worse ever since I got here a year and a half ago. I don’t know what it is but I don’t want to find out and I’m getting out of here as soon as I get my transfer. I only feel bad for them,” Masuda knew who they were so he didn’t need to ask. “Tegoshi’s craziness aside, I always felt they shouldn’t be here, know what I mean? Well, Horikita, maybe, now… she’s not doing so well…”

 

Masuda nodded. He figured he wouldn’t find much more than what he already had so he everything back with Ryo’s help and they both left the office.

 

“If I hear anything else, I’ll let you know. I won’t say anything about tonight. But I would get the hell out of here if I were you, but if you want to find out more, I’ll help you… as long as it doesn’t risk my neck, of course. Oh, and look… about Tegoshi… I’m the last person that can give anybody a lecture but…”

 

“Really, it was nothing! He was having a…”

 

Ryo lifted a hand to stop him. “Yeah, yeah… fine. But I don’t think Kimura sensei is that relaxed. And well… Nothing, never mind… just… the guy’s been through a lot and I just don’t want you taking advantage of that. You seem like a nice guy but I don’t know you and yeah… well see you around.”

 

Ryo left before Masuda could answer.   

  
  


~~~~~~

  
  


Shige was lying on the rooftop. Summer had sneaked up on him. He couldn’t believe it was already the beginning of summer. It was a hot night but there was a soft breeze that made the un-kept rooftop just perfect. He felt Erika sit up. He opened his eyes and looked at her naked back. They knew it was probably stupid to be alone, especially after the last time they had been alone, but, well, they shut the nagging voice saying that since they didn’t have many opportunities to be alone.

 

They had to meet the others later to go see G. The time was coming to leave the rooftop and Shige really didn’t want to leave. It was really quiet and it seemed that they were out on a regular date rather than locked up in an institution where people went even crazier and died.

 

Erika hugged her legs and rested her cheek against her knees.

 

“Maki talked to me.”

 

“Really? What did she say?”

 

“Sh-she said that if she weren’t here, sh-she wouldn’t hurt anybody. I’m scared of what she might do.” She reached for her clothes and put them on. Shige put on his pants. They were in a rooftop after all, hardly a private place.

 

Instead of leaving, they sat back on the blanket. “Maybe…” she started but stopped.

 

“Maybe what?”

 

“Maybe Yamashita is right. Maybe we should get out of here. Maybe she and Fujigaya will get better if we leave.”

 

He didn’t know what to say because he didn’t know how he felt about that. If he left he wouldn’t be able to see his mother again, not that she was visiting him anymore. The visits had been further and further apart after the first couple of months and they had stopped all together on the third month. Two months ago he had called her and she had said that she was fine and happy. Oh yeah and that he would have a little brother or sister and that she had been told that the stress of seeing him there was not good for her. Whatever. His relationship with his mother had always been strained in the best of circumstances, and this was anything but that. He was fine just knowing that she was really okay.

 

“I know,” she said. “I know how you feel but I’m very scared. I… I think even the g-ghosts are leaving. Something is scaring them or keeping them away.”

 

Shige got closer to her and put his arm on her shoulders and brought her near.

 

“A-are their faces…” Erika started to ask.

 

Shige nodded.

 

He had eventually told Erika of course, and then Tegoshi and of course they couldn’t keep anything from Yamashita and Koyama but they decided not to tell anything to Maki and Fujigaya. There was nothing they could do; it would just make them feel worse. They just waited and watch them and stayed clear from other patients with similar symptoms.

 

“We’ll go tonight and see what G has to say and then decide. I’m thinking that it is a good idea to leave, too.”

 

Erika lifted her head, looked at him and smiled a little.

 

“Okay,” she said.

 

It was time to leave but Shige leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. He kissed her bottom lip and she sighed as Shige deepened the kiss. She kissed him back and wrapped her arms around his neck. He pushed her down and he followed her. He started to run his hands through her stomach under her shirt and she gave out a little groan.

 

“What is this impropriety?”

 

Shige really wanted to ignore his roommate. “Go away.” He said against her lips. Erika chuckled.

 

“I hope that now that you’ve compromised her virtue you will marry her. I can get a shotgun, you know?”

 

Erika pulled away and started laughing. Shige growled and glared at his annoying roommate.

 

Tegoshi put his hands up in a soothing gesture. “Fine, fine. Be a couple of sinners. But seriously, we have to get going.”

 

Shige put on his shirt and they both went with Tegoshi. Fujigaya was waiting inside. He looked like crap. They knew he wasn’t sleeping very well. He said that when he went to sleep, he either had nightmares or he started to hurt. Sometimes it was his head, others some other part would hurt from the inside.

 

The four of them went to meet the rest and then to talk to G.

 

~~~~~~

 

They didn’t go to his room. They went to a room that looked like the offices where board directors meet. It had a long table and some old chairs. I was clean but it still had that empty feeling a room which had not been used in ages gives you. It was not well lighted. Shige looked up and noticed that only one of the lamps was working.

 

G. turned around when they went in but he wasn’t alone, Shige now noticed. There was another man.

 

Kimura sensei.

 

They stopped, looking at the two men. Shige was sure the rest of them were just as shocked.

  
“Please, come in, sit down. We have a lot to talk about.”

 


	20. Chapter 20

                                                                                

 

“Please, come in, sit down. We have a lot to talk about,” G said.

 

They were all frozen, at first. Finally, Koyama walked forward and sat on one of the chairs. The rest of them followed. Yamashita gently grabbed Maki’s hand and led her to the chair next to Koyama. She sat down but didn’t show any emotion. She had been all but catatonic. Everybody could see how it was affecting Yamashita too and Shige was pretty sure that the other man was really fighting not to lose it and just start screaming asking for the answers the other two men probably had. Instead he simply sat next to Maki holding her hand and caressing it with his thumb.

 

Shige couldn’t even begin to know how the others felt. They had trusted G and even Kimura for years. Shige felt Erika grab his hand as they sat on the other side of the table with Tegoshi and Fujigaya. Tegoshi was frowning with his lips shut tight.

 

“Okay, start explaining,” Yamashita said through clenched teeth.

 

“I’m sorry I lied to you. We both are,” G said nodding toward Kimura who nodded in agreement. “It was necessary at the time. We had to be sure that you were the ones we were looking for.”

 

“We should start from the beginning. You know the stories around the place when it was first opened, right?” Kimura said.

 

“We know a little. Rumors mostly,” Koyama said.

 

Kimura nodded and G continued: “This place was started by a very well known psychiatrist in the early 60’s. Ever since the construction of the building there had been… problems. Workers didn’t like working the site, some even refused to go back after a few days.

 

“The doctor and the architect in charge dismissed all the talk as superstition. People said that the place was cursed and they thought that the workers had been influenced by that. The construction was finished and the Asylum opened its doors. Nothing much happened at first or maybe it did happen but since everybody in here was crazy, nobody thought it strange that the patients saw or heard things.

 

“The bottom line is, the Asylum prospered. It was regarded as one of the best with the best physicians so when patients died nobody questioned anything and people continued to send their relatives here no matter the price and the Chief Doctor continued to make money.” G sighed and shook his head. “Most of those people just wanted to get rid of a problem. Several young doctors were hired. We know many noticed things happening within the first year. A figure out of the corner of the eye, voices when no one was around and they even started to have dreams, weird dreams. They were all led by Katori sensei. One day a group of young doctors were called to a secret meeting…

 

Katori sensei looked at his young staff. They were all special. They had been handpicked by him with ‘their’ help. Right now they were all looking pale and bewildered. He could understand. What he had told them and showed them, was not easy to understand.

 

“This can’t be real, it’s not real” Nurse Anne kept murmuring. Nurse Tabe was consoling her but she had tears coming down her eyes.

 

“I can assure you that this is all real. None of you are crazy. You’ve seen the Suzerain with your own eyes but they are not the enemy; they will help us. They will give us power and everything we want.”

  
“In exchange for our souls,” Ouguri sensei snapped.

 

Katori sensei smiled. “No, they don’t want your souls. They merely need a body.”

 

“Our bodies? Why? Because we are…”

 

“Special, like me,” the head doctor finished what Hiro sensei couldn’t. “And it’s not right now.”

 

“On the third cycle we will come, we will be accepted and we will claim what’s ours,” Kamenashi quoted the beings.

 

“Right.”

 

“What does it even mean? We have three years?”

 

“It means that on the third cycle they will come back and they will have to be accepted once again. In the mean time we will have everything. You know you need this. You all need this for your own reasons. You will know no peace if you don’t. The beings won’t let you. Tabe san, do you honestly think you can raise a child alone, without a husband? And you…”

  
  
  


“Katori sensei was right. For whatever reason, they all accepted.” Kimura stood up and walked to the window. “He was our grandfather. He had twin sons. I’m the son of the youngest; G is the son of the oldest. With the deal they struck with the entities, came powers, abilities, abilities that he passed on to his children and they passed on to us.”

 

“And so you are the third cycle,” Shige said, more to himself.

 

Both older men smiled. “Smart. Yes. Our fathers never told us any of this. They had notes on what they found but they destroyed most of them so everything we tell you is what we could gather from bits of information. The numbers of the entities are in the hundreds, but there are those who have more power and the only way that they can go out into the world is by being in a human body. An able and accepting human body.”

 

“What does that got to do with us?” Fujigaya asked. Shige thought he already knew the answer but said nothing; he simply got closer to Erika, needing to feel close to someone.

 

Kimura sensei stood up and brought the board that had been waiting in a corner closer to them so that it was illuminated by the dim lights. There were pictures on it.

 

“Meet the original doctors of the asylum. This is our grandfather, Katori Shingo. He lived several years as the director of this institution. He ended up consumed by it. He finally died; he killed himself. Both our fathers took over until they both died.

 

“Kitayama Hiromitsu, he was one of the last doctors to be hired. He met a woman, got her pregnant and was forced to marry her. It was not a happy marriage, to say the least. He disappeared before his wife even gave birth. He died 6 months after, according to what we found. His wife changed her name back to Fujigaya Aiko, her maiden name.”

 

“Grandma,” Fujigaya whispered.

 

Kimura sensei nodded. “Yes. Next, Takizawa Hideaki. He met a married woman while working. That woman got pregnant but refused to leave her husband. Takizawa killed himself, or so it was reported. He jumped off a building.”

 

“Or was he pushed?” Koyama asked.

 

“Maybe, maybe not. No way to know now. The important point is that his lover got pregnant and raised the child as if it was her husband’s, Yamashita Katashi. You were difficult to find Yamashita kun.”

 

Yamashita said nothing, he just stared at where his hand was clasping Maki’s, slightly shaking.

 

“Should I continue? Or do you get the idea?”

 

“Please go on,” said Tegoshi in an eerily calm voice. He was not frowning anymore and his mouth was not a thin line, however, his eyes were still hard.

 

“Very well. This is one of the head nurses.” Kimura pointed at the photo a woman with high cheekbones. “She had a history of mental illness in the family but she never showed any signs of sharing that trait. Until she started working here. She did marry, but merely two months after, she had to be institutionalized. She was pregnant and had her baby while committed. Her husband, Horikita Koji, took the baby. She killed herself not long after that.”

 

Maki giggled and started mumbling something. Yamashita put his arm around her shoulders and whispered close to her ear and she calmed down. He wanted to stop everything right now, but he knew he shouldn’t, they were finally getting the answers they never had, and that they never even thought to ask.

 

“Ouguri Shun. He was a good man but after the meeting he was reported to have a drinking problem. He got married but died in a car accident. His wife left this town and also changed her name back to Koyama Moriko and raised their child alone.

 

“Ouguri’s best friend was Mizushima Hiro. After his friend’s death he and his wife vanished. Everybody thought they were dead but they weren’t. He changed his name to Kato, since it was such a common name. They lived several years together until Mizushima’s death. Apparent suicide again.”

  
Shige had been prepared to hear something like that but it was still a shock and still felt the blood drain from his face.

 

“Laroux Alain. He was a French doctor and was recruited to work in the asylum. He came with his young wife, Sophia Laroux.”

 

“I came from America and my family are not French,” Erika argued, though not with too much strength.

 

“Actually, they are, Erika.” This time is was G who spoke in a soft voice. “Laroux sensei left the country and didn’t come back to France. He changed his name. He didn’t go back to medicine but set up a small shop. He and his wife died in a fire…”

 

“I know that, I just didn’t know… My mom never said…”

 

“They wanted to forget what he had done, the deal he had struck. Your mother might have known what happened, given her unbalanced mental state, but we cannot know this for sure.”

 

“My grandmother’s name is Sophia? I always t-thought her name was R-ruth. Sophi… Sophia” She ended up talking almost to herself and then she just remained silent.

 

“I guess I’m next?” Tegoshi said

 

Kimura looked at him and smiled sadly. “Kamenashi Kazuya and his wife Kuroki Meisa. They disappeared. They changed their names…”

 

“Grandma died when my dad was 8 and my grandfather lived a lot longer until he died not long before I came here, but everybody knows that. So grandpa was the one to survive in this case. Weird.”

 

“Yes, we don’t really know how he escaped the same fate as the others.”

 

“He probably didn’t. He simply put it off. Did they have… could they do the things we can?” Tegoshi asked changing the subject abruptly.

 

“Yes, though in a much lesser degree. Your parents had it too, again not to the extend you do.”

 

“What can you do?”

 

“Me? Nothing. I’m the son of a second son, so the powers went to my cousin.”

 

“My abilities are mixed, since my ancestor was the ‘leader’ in a way. But I can sense all of you and your abilities, up to a certain extent.”

 

“And the rest is investigation and well… witchcraft, for lack of a better word,” Kimura finished.

 

“The marking on the walls of our rooms?” Shige asked.

 

“For protection. You had to be here, the beings were calling on all of us and one way or another we would have all been here, but with the markings you could remain invisible, or close to it.”

 

“Not all of us.”

 

“Yes, Yamashita-kun, you are right, we couldn’t protect all of you. When Fujigaya had the vision he opened himself to it. It was bad luck that the entity happened to be the one he was promised to. We are still not sure about Maki-chan.”

 

“You should have told us sooner so we could have been prepared!”

 

“Most of you were too young or too affected when you came in. Those things had been acting already, triggering the abilities or making them unbearable.”

 

“Suzerain, or whatever they are called.”

 

“Yes, them. They made you sick; they made you unable to cope with the abilities by opening you to them too much too soon.”

 

“Why us? Why not our grandparents? Why do we have to pay…”

 

“They cannot fully possess anybody for a long time. They have to… prepare. Our grandparents were special, but they could not serve as hosts. They need three cycles to prepare. The third generation can be hosts. And it’s not all entities that can do this. There are dozens here but only 8, the eight leaders let’s call them, can take possession and get out to the world, opening the way for the rest.”

 

“This is too confusing.” Fijigaya rubbed the side of his head.

 

“I know. And we don’t know much more than this. There are few records of what happened and the entities have been forgotten ages ago, so there is not much information to find about them except some basic data and the name they were given long ago.”

 

Kimura nodded. “This place had always been like a gateway, a door. That’s where the rumors had started and I guess people used to be wiser and stayed away. When our grandfather came here the Suzerain used him. He built a place where vulnerable people would be helpless to stop them. The entities feed on thoughts or feelings, bad thoughts and feelings. A psychiatric institution is their heaven. People with strong emotions and already weakened by either their disease or the drugs they are given. People with abilities tend to be more open and they either attract or repel these entities. You guys and G here are different. The entities won’t feed on you but they do weaken you so that you will eventually accept them.”

 

“What did our grandparents get out of it?” Shige asked.

 

“As usually happens with these deals, not what they expected. They got money and they succeeded in what they took on but many couldn’t live with either what they had done or the abilities they now suddenly had. Whatever it was, only our grandfather remained. Then it was our fathers until they… died. They researched on the supernatural and before they died, G’s father made sure to close down the place hoping that if the Suzerain didn’t have sustenance they would weaken and you would be spared.”

 

“That did not happen.” G continued. “People were drawn here and then they ‘disappear.’ When we learnt parts of what had happened, Kimura and I decided that we had to reopen the facility. Our parents had died insane but very wealthy so we bought the place, repaired it and reopened it using false names other doctors with experience. We were barely out of med school then. We fixed it up and brought in new patients. We became doctors here but we never said anything about being the owners. We decided that Kimura would become Chief and I would… do other things.”

 

“Like make us trust you,” Yamapi growled.

 

“And do the same things our grandparents did,” Tegoshi said in a neutral voice.

 

“No, Tegoshi, and yes. We never looked to enrich ourselves, only to find a way to end what they started. Yes, the only way we found to do that was to feed them. As long as they are ‘fed’ they are a little more controllable.”

 

“You can choose to believe us or not,” Kimura intervened. “And we have made mistakes but our intention is to stop all this and it has to be now.”

 

“Because they are stronger,” Shige said.

 

Kimura nodded.

 

“Now that we are all here, they are stronger. Now that they found Maki and Fujigaya, we won’t be able to keep them away from the rest of you for much longer.”

 

“Not all of us,” Tegoshi mused as he got up and slowly walked to the board with all the pictures. “We are not all here. There is one more person here. Tabe Mikako. He looks like her.”

 

“He?” Shige asked.

 

“Yes, he does,” G said. “Masuda sensei does resemble her in a way.”

 

“Why isn’t he here with us? Shouldn’t he hear all this, too?”

 

“We thought it would be too difficult for him to deal with all this with all of you. He does not have the same background as you. Even his ability is not obvious like yours. If we talked to him and he didn’t believe us, he might have tried to tell outsiders. Actually, I really had my doubts that he was one of you, but G was adamant about him being the last of you and insisted on him being your doctor, Tegoshi.”

 

“It is still not fair, what are you going to do? Spring all this on him out of the blue later on? You might have as well done that now.

 

“Kimura will try to explain as best he can.”

 

Tegoshi didn’t look convinced, but didn’t say anything else he simply stood up and walked toward the board and started running his fingers gently through Tabe’s photo. And even to Shige, who knew him by now, Tegoshi did look a little… off.  “I’m sure you need us,” he said. “I don’t know how you are planning to stop this but you’ll probably need us.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“How?” Shige asked.

 

“We don’t know. That’s what we’ve been looking for but can’t find. There is something missing.”

 

“And we are just supposed to do… something you are not even sure about, possibly die doing whatever it is we have to do, because, call me a pessimist but I doubt those things will go down without a fight and why would you hide this from us if you thought there was no danger,” Shige said, he really wanted to pound something, preferably the two men’s faces.

 

“Now that you know, you can say no, I suppose,” G conceded. “You can live like your grandparents did, but they won’t let you live in peace. That I’m sure about. We’ve been protecting you and that’s why you’ve been doing better.”

 

Tegoshi went back to his seat. He had been only half listening, his head still stuck on something. “Why did you lie about being confined here? Why didn’t you stay as my… a doctor here.”

 

G got closer to Tegoshi and lifted his arm, he was about to put it on his shoulder but when Tegoshi tensed, G let his arm fall and went back to his chair. “There were a couple of reasons. I needed you and Erika and any other that would come to trust me, really trust me so I could help you evade the entities. If a doctor would have given you the advice I gave you, would you have followed? Would you have trusted me?”

 

“I would have trusted you,” Tegoshi said softly.

 

“But I still would have been someone who kept you locked up and thought you were crazy. And how about the rest? Besides as a doctor I had to be more careful with the questions and with what I did. If I went around looking for supernatural things and someone saw me, it would have been bad. Now everybody thinks I’m locked up. When I need to, I leave and do research under a false identity. Mostly I needed you to really trust me. Especially because of what we need to ask you, Tegoshi-kun, now that we ran out of choices.”

 

Tegoshi merely smiled a sad smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

 

“You see,” G continued. “We need to know how to close the door and the only way I can see is to ask them. We can’t really hold them down and ask questions…”

 

“But you can if they are in a body you can strap down,” Tegoshi finished.

 

“I can show you how to call that specific entity. I wasn’t sure before, but Kimura told me about the incident with Masuda sensei. He is like a repellant, like your opposite. You attract beings, he expels them. So if he is there, we can get the entity out of you.”

 

“No!” Shige, Yamashita and Koyama said at the same time.

 

“I think that’s his decision,” G pointed out.

 

“Yeah, but you’ll guilt him into doing it,” Shige insisted. “You are guilting all of us into risking our lives to fix something someone else messed up!”

 

“I know,” Kimura answered. “We know you didn’t ask for this, but you are part of it too just like we are. And, think, if we close the door Maki and Fujigaya have the best chance to get better. If you don’t want to do it, we will transfer them, I will transfer you all, but that doesn’t guarantee they’ll recover or that you can lead normal lives or that you won’t end up dead, like your grandparents.”

 

“And like I said,” continued G. “Masuda sensei can drive the entity away. He’s done it before without hurting Tegoshi.”

 

“Yes, b-but what will happen b-before?” Erika asked. “He can still g-get hurt. And h-how are you going to g-get the information? I highly d-d-doubt it will simply tell you how to get rid of t-them.” Erika finished angrily.

 

“I’m not saying it will be easy. We will do our best for you not to get hurt, Tegoshi-kun. And in my research I found that the Suzerain cannot lie when in a medium. If they talk, they have to tell the truth. I’m as sure as I can be that this fact is true. We won’t force you, you really can choose.”  

 

Yamashita stood up. “We’ll talk about it,” he told them and grabbed Maki’s hand, she looked at him and got up, the rest followed.

 

Before going out the door, Tegoshi turned around and said “I would have trusted you, I did trust you. And I would have done this too if you had told me and asked.” But Tegoshi knew he would probably do it anyway.

 

~~~~

 

They were all silent processing all the information; it was a lot to process.

 

“We could leave,” Yamashita said, though he didn’t sound too convinced.

 

“I’m not leaving.” They all looked at Maki. It was the first time she had spoken.

 

“Maki…”

 

“No, I’m dangerous, you may choose to leave, maybe you should, but I’m not going with you. I don’t want to hh…” Yamashita went to her and hugged her close. It had been so long since they heard her speak more than a few words, that they were all a little stunned.

 

“It’s okay, it’ll be fine,” Yamashita murmured while he rocked her softly.

 

“So, we are staying and letting them do whatever even though they lied and planned to used you, us?” Shige really didn’t know what to think. He was tired of not knowing what to think.

 

“Apparently,” Erika answered next to him.

 

“I’m going to do it.” That was the first time Tegoshi had spoken since leaving that room. “What’s going on here has to stop and it certainly cannot spread. Plus, it can help Maki and Fujigaya.”

 

“I brought this on myself, so don’t do me any favors.”

 

“Ah, yes, Fujigaya, but I have such a big heart that I will do this for you,” Tegoshi said blowing a kiss to Fujigaya. “And Maki didn’t bring this on herself and you did it to help, so I hereby forgive you.” That tirade brought several chuckles even in the dark mood they were all in. “But really, I believe them when they told us we would have no peace unless the portal, or whatever, is closed.”

 

“I think we should all decide for ourselves. Whoever wants to stay, stays and whoever wants to leave, leaves,” Yamashita suggested.

 

“I agree,” Koyama said. “And I don’t think we should decide anything today, we’ll talk about it tomorrow. I doubt we have much time to decide.”

 

They left the room and walked the halls to their wards. Shige and Erika walked behind the rest.

 

“You are gonna stay, aren’t you?” Asked Shige quietly enough so only she could hear.

 

She nodded. “Maki and Fujigaya won’t leave, that means Yamashita is not leaving. Yuya will definitely stay and I won’t leave him, especially if he’s planning to do what they ask.”

 

Shige said nothing.

 

“We would all understand if you decide to leave and we will help you do it if you don’t want to be transferred. We’ve never done it because none of us has anything outside but we can help break out.”

 

“Shouldn’t you ask the rest about that?”

 

“No, I know they will. Shige, I really do understand,” she said as she stopped him.

 

Shige had been weighing everything. If he was transferred he would be in another institution surrounded by crazy people, what were the odds of finding another group of people like this? None, since they now knew they’d been gathered together actually. His mother wasn’t speaking to him and of course he wouldn’t be welcomed if he suddenly showed up having escaped. Basically he had no place to go and he wasn’t sure he wanted to go. He had become so close to all of them in a very short time that he didn’t want to leave. Definitely, he didn’t want to leave her and he would probably miss Tegoshi jumping around and singing at random moments. And really, whether he liked it or not, he was involved and he agreed with Tegoshi, probably they would be able to live their life haunted by those things.

 

“You are staring again, Shige.” Shige smiled. Put his hands on the sides of her face and brought his lips to hers.

 

“Oh yay!!” They heard Tegoshi’s voice coming from right ahead. “Shige you are staying!! You are suicidal just like us!”

 

Erika stood back a little looking at him.

 

“You don’t have to do it, you know?” Yamashita said as he walked back to them.

 

“Stop reading my mind. And I know. You guys keep trying to exclude me. I haven’t been here as long as the rest of you and all, and you guys have all this history, but don’t write me off. I want to stay.”

 

“Pi! Stop making Shige grouchy! Well, more than he already is. We don’t want to exclude you, we just don’t want you to feel pressured, that’s all,” Tegoshi explained.

 

“I don’t. Well, I do, but not by you. We really don’t have a choice, do we? So let’s go.” Shige started walking again. Erika caught up to him and grabbed his hand.

 

“So we are really gonna do this,” Koyama felt the need to state it somehow.

 

“Yep,” Tegoshi answered. “Hey, you guys think this time my head will spin like that girl in the Exorcist?”

 

 


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Tegoshi's song of this chapter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRjIgM0WzCs

                                                                                      

 

They were all sitting together, not talking much. They had nothing left to talk about. It had been decided that they would stay and see. If they figured it was really suicide after they got more information, then they would take the odds and run for the hills.

 

“Be running up that hill; be running up that building, if I only could make a deal with God…”*

 

The song just slipped out of Tegoshi’s lips; it wasn’t something that he thought about, just one of those things. Words would trigger songs and he sang them. One of the good things about being crazy was that you really didn’t need reasons for your actions, right?

 

The others were so used to him bursting into song that they didn’t even bat an eye anymore.

 

It helped when he was nervous. And it helped that he had such a good voice, if he may say so himself. He could have been a great idol if he had been right in the head and not possessed by spirits more often than not. Well the not being right in the head part might actually work in his favor in show biz…

 

Masuda entering the room stopped his thoughts, as it usually did. Before they did what they were going to do he wanted to talk to his doctor, soon to be ex doctor probably. He was going to tell him everything. Kimura had wanted to tell the doctor but later on, after everything went down but Tegoshi insisted on telling him now and do it himself and if they didn’t like it, well they could find another medium in this place to agree to get a crazy, murdering and violent entity inside of them.

 

However, he wanted to know something else. He had talked about it with Koyama since Tegoshi needed him to give him an idea of what to expect. Of course Erika knew but he didn’t want to tell the rest. He knew he was about to hit his head against a wall and the less people who knew about it the better.

 

Koyama had stayed away from the rest. When he saw Masuda sensei he walked past him focusing in his feelings. He discarded all the other emotions around him and he finally felt them. He was really getting the hang of it. He suppressed a smile and kept walking. He found himself wondering why he was able to cope with his empathy now and he always came up empty handed.

 

He sat next to Tegoshi and murmured in his ear.

 

Tegoshi watched Masuda talk to some of the patients. He did some follow ups for a few doctors. I wasn’t a long round. There were few patients here, the patients left in the institution had started to prefer their rooms months ago.

 

When he realized that Masuda was done he stood up and went up to him.

 

“Hi,” he said.

 

“Hello,” the other man answered with a smile but a little uncomfortable.

 

“We have a session now, right?”

 

Masuda looked at his watch and nodded. “You are right. Okay, then let’s go.”

 

They went in the office and Masuda sat down.

 

“Okay,” Tegoshi started, “this might be our last session together.” Masuda frowned but Tegoshi continued before he could say anything. “Kimura sensei will ask you to help with… something and you may… you will most likely change whatever you think or feel about me. About many things, actually. But I want to tell you everything so at least it won’t be a surprise.” He finished with a shrug and a weak smile.

 

“Tegoshi-kun…” Masuda started.

 

“Just let me tell you. Remember the last session we had?”

 

“Yes, when you had the panic attack.”

 

“It wasn’t a panic attack. You have read my file, right? Then you must have read what… how… about my mother and the…”

 

“Yes, I read. She was delusional and…”

 

“She wasn’t really. I mean, I’m not saying that what she did wasn’t wrong but I really was possessed. I’m a medium; spirits do get inside me, usually not good spirits. I know, you don’t believe me but I still want to tell you. Last time you stopped a possession, just by touching me. That’s what happened.”

 

Tegoshi told him everything, about the abilities of the others and about what was going on in the institution. The most difficult part was to tell him about his grandmother but he just kept talking. When he finished Masuda was just quiet and stared at him.

 

Tegoshi smiled sadly. “I know, you don’t believe me but you must have noticed things happening around here.”

 

“I have,” he said reluctantly.

 

“Well, Kimura will come and tell you we need your help. When you see what happens, you will believe me. I just thought that if you’d been warned, it… wouldn’t shock you as much. And maybe you’ll still like me after.” Tegoshi stood up and went around the desk. He looked down and worried his lower lip. “Because, well, I like you. I really like you and you do like me, even a little.”

 

Masuda stood up. “Tegoshi kun, I know that you may feel close to me, it’s common that a patient…”

 

“Yes, yes,” Tegoshi interrupted impatiently, “I know, you think that I identify with you and now I think I love you because of that and you are probably conflicted because even though you like me, you think it’s wrong and you would be taking advantage of the poor little crazy kid. But I do like you and…” Tegoshi sighed, he was making no sense. “I only hope that you will help us because it’s the only way I won’t get hurt that much and that afterwards… well…” Tegoshi had to stop talking because he wasn’t helping his case, he did sound like a poor little crazy kid.

 

Masuda was looking at him confused. Tegoshi looked at his eyes and then his lips, on an impulse he pressed his lips against the doctor’s and laced his hands behind his neck. He felt Masuda put his hands on his hips and for a few seconds Masuda pulled him a little closer and tentatively kiss him back but too soon he pushed Tegoshi away, not violently, but firmly.

 

“Tegoshi kun, this is not…”

 

“I know, I’m sorry. I’m leaving. Just remember what I told you when Kimura sensei comes. Bye.”

 

Tegoshi all but ran to the door and left.

  
  


~~~~~~

 

Masuda walked behind Kimura sensei. True to what Tegoshi had said Kimura sensei had gone to him later that same day and had told him he needed his help. He hadn’t said much. Certainly he hadn’t said anything about possession, malevolent entities and conspiracies.

 

Before that day, Masuda had been considering talking to Kimura sensei about discharging Tegoshi. He would still continue to have therapy but he had honestly believed he was well enough to live outside, in spite of his weirdness. Now, he saw that the poor man was still delusional. The delusion his mother had imprinted on him was still there.

 

He was sad, he had really thought Tegoshi had a chance to leave and live a normal life, or as normal as a guy like him could. Tegoshi was severely disturbed, Masuda knew that and still couldn’t forget that kiss. It had been short, he had ended it before he did something really stupid, but still couldn’t forget it. He also wished he could believe him.

 

He noticed they were walking through a hall he had never been in. The facility was huge and a large portion of it was not being used so Masuda wasn’t surprised at not recognizing the place. Still, it gave him the chills. There was something that Tegoshi had said that was absolutely true: he had seen weird things and what he had seen in the files hadn’t given him much information but it had made his suspicions even worse. Not that he was about to believe what Tegoshi had said…

 

“We are here,” Kimura said.

 

“Wait. Where are we? And you still haven’t told me exactly what it is we are doing here.”

 

“I told you. I need your help with Tegoshi kun. You said you believe he still clangs to a delusion. This will help.”

 

“How, exactly?”

 

Kimura merely smiled and opened the door. Inside the big room he saw an old big iron hospital bed, some very old surgery equipment which clearly hadn’t been used in decades. The room was not empty. The first person he saw was Tegoshi sitting on the bed with his legs crossed. When he saw him come in he lowered his eyes fidgeted with his fingers. Masuda also felt the urge to look down and probably fidget as well but he repressed it.

 

He noticed that under and around the bed there were some drawings. He looked at the rest of the people as his confusion grew. He saw Koyama next to Fujigaya, who was looking tired with dark bags under his eyes. Then there was Maki, she was looking worse than Fujigaya, she was pale and her hair was partly on her face. Yamashita was with her soothing his hand on her arm. And then of course, Erika was in the other corner looking grim, with Shige’s arms around her shoulders holding her tight.

 

Masuda didn’t like this and he liked it even less when the door shut behind him and someone he hadn’t seen yet said: “Now that we are all here, we should get started.”

 

Masuda turned around and opened his eyes wide. The other man was Gakuto-san. He clapped his hand on Kimura sensei’s shoulder, the other man simply nodded.

 

“What the hell?” Was all Masuda could say.

 

“I think Tegoshi told you pretty much everything,” Kimura answered.

 

“Wait a minute, this isn’t… it can’t be… You are all delusional. I don’t know what you are going to do or what you expect out of this, but I’m not going to stay here and allow it.” He went to the door but it was locked. “Open it.” He demanded.

 

“No. We have to do this and unfortunately we need you, and Tegoshi explained why. I know you don’t believe it, but that changes nothing,” Gakuto said.

 

Masuda looked at Kimura sensei. “You are following a group of mental patients.”

 

“Before this, what did you think of me?” The other man asked.

 

“I thought you were one of the best doctors there is and I really respected you, but this…”

 

“And what did you think of Tegoshi kun?”

 

“I… I thought he could live outside, he had some odd behaviors, mostly walls he put up, but I thought he was not a danger to himself or other people. I wondered why he was still here.” And he refused to say what else he had thought.

 

“So now we present you with something and you discard all you thought before by just saying we are all crazy. I’m not saying that you have to believe us but maybe give us the benefit of the doubt. I understand you don’t believe us and Tegoshi understands too, even though he might be a little hurt. However, this is happening and we need you so you will stay even if we need to tie you up.” Kimura sensei finished with a calm and rational voice.

 

Masuda looked at Gakuto. The man was kind of a giant and he seemed well built. So did the other men there and he, even if he worked out and he knew he was deceptively strong, was alone.

  
  


“Just stay,” Tegoshi spoke up for the first time since he had come in, “you don’t believe me, so you are just going to see me tied up to a bed, maybe thrashing a little having a hallucination and then you can go and say how crazy we all are.”

 

“Fine, I’ll stay. I don’t have much choice do I?” At least he could stay and make sure they didn’t hurt Tegoshi.

 

“Okay then, since Masu isn’t being tied up, let’s tie me down.”

 

Tegoshi, laid on the bed without even looking at Massu. He understood how he felt, and he knew something like this would happen but he didn’t regret telling him, if he had to be here he needed to know. What he did regret was the kiss. Well, not really regret it, since probably after today the other man wouldn’t want to see him again, but maybe Koyama had been wrong and Massu didn’t like him that way, why would he really?

 

“Are you sure that will hold up?” Tegoshi asked when he saw the manacles they were using to tie his arms and legs.

 

“Not at all,” G answered, “but in case it fails I wrote a spell around the bed.”

 

“You told me. Are you sure that will hold up?”

 

“Pretty sure. I also have a couple more things.” Tegoshi looked at G and lifted one eyebrow. G showed 3 bottles with a yellowish green color. “We can make it talk with this.”

 

“What is that and how are you planning to use it?” Massu asked. His voice was more calm now but still looked angry and more than a little suspicious.

 

“Several herbs.”

 

“Which herbs?”

 

“Basil, Copal, Dragon's Blood, Mandrake, Snapdragon Flower, Solomon's Seal Root, Wormwood and Belladonna mainly. But it’s not all on the herbs it also depends on how you make it and when. It took me a while to make this much.”

 

“Wait, aren’t some of those poisonous?” Shige questioned.

 

“Yes, they are. Some even absorb through the skin… you can’t use that on him.” This time Masuda’s voice was definitely angry.

 

“It won’t hurt him but it will hurt the entity.”

 

“Oh yeah, how do you know? Did the voices in the TV told you or was it the neighbor’s dog?” Masuda said.

 

“Those have been used on me before,” Tegoshi started and hesitated before continuing. “They are used for exorcisms. My mom used some of them some time or other. They made me sick for a few days but I didn’t die.” He tried to suppress it but he shivered. He tried to get what he was about to do out of his head but it was hard.

 

G stood right in front of him and said: “We are not doing an exorcism, that’s why we have him.” G nodded on Masuda’s direction. “This is for the thing possessing you, not for you. If I had found any other way, I wouldn’t have asked you to do this.”

 

“I know,” he finally said.

 

“And I know I lied but I do care about you, that part was not a lie. I always thought I might be able to leave you and all the rest out of it.”

 

“That’s okay.”

 

“No, it’s not, but there’s nothing to do about it. Fujigaya-kun.”

 

Fujigaya came near and put his hand on Tegoshi’s arm. They would try to attract the entity that was attached to him. Fujigaya was going to concentrate on the thing he’d seen in the vision and instead of Tegoshi trying to stop it as he usually did, he would open himself to it. Very simple.

 

Erika got close to him and whispered: “Do you still want to do it? You can change your mind.”

 

Tegoshi shook his head. “I’m doing it. You guys can leave, you don’t have to see this.”

 

“Shut up,” Erika said and squeezed his arm and stayed next to him.

 

“What are those drawing under the bed?” He heard Masuda asked.

 

“They will contain the entity within the circle in case the manacles aren’t enough.” Kimura answered.

 

Massu cursed but stayed where he was, though he seemed like he wanted to get closer. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking on Tegoshi’s part.

 

Tegoshi closed his eyes and tried to do the opposite of what he usually did. He took a deep breath and a few minutes later he felt it coming.

 

“Get back. It’s coming.” He told Erika and Fujigaya. They hesitated. “Get away from me!” He roared.

 

 

 


	22. Chapter 22

                                                                                

 

“Get away from me!” He roared.

 

Tegoshi’s breath started to come out faster and faster. It was as if his entire body was involved in the process of breathing. The mouth moving, the nose flaring the chest going up and down and even the stomach made an almost halting undulating movement. Then finally, he took a deep breath and stopped all together. He opened his eyes and looked straight at Shige. His eyes were completely white, not as if they had rolled back, but as if all color had drained from his irises. He ran eyes, which seemed blind but could actually see everything, through the room looking at each one and stopped on Fujigaya. He tried to sit up only to be stopped by the manacles. He started to laugh softly.

 

“Mmhh I see…” A strange deep voice came out of Tegoshi’s body. “Can I ask why you have called me forth if you are going to keep me strapped?” Its voice, because that wasn’t his roommate’s anymore, sounded almost conversational, as if asking why they were having coffee instead of a good cup of tea.

 

“We have a few things to ask you,” G answered just as conversationally.

 

“Oh, and I am to answer them truthfully and just out of the goodness of my heart, right?”

 

Shige just stared at what was going on. He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting but this was not it. It even seemed that G was just going to have a pleasant chat. No twirling heads or green vomit seemed to be in store.

 

“Well, I know you can’t lie while possessing someone. I don’t know why though.”

 

Tegoshi’s body gave a big sigh. “Rules, rules. We all must have them. We all must abide by them. That doesn’t mean that I have to talk to you at all or that I can’t just walk out of here now.”

 

The manacles opened seemingly out of their own free will, Tegoshi crouched and made a leap to the foot of the bed and then it seemed to crash into an invisible wall, sounded like that too, and fell back on the bed. They all started to get closer. It did look like Tegoshi after all.

 

“Don’t! Don’t get close!” G yelled. They all froze looking at the body on the bed. It sat back up crouching on the sole of Tegoshi’s feet. Shige saw Tegoshi’s nose was bleeding from the impact but it didn’t look broken. His mouth opened, the joints of the jaw dislocated letting it open widely and grotesquely and let out an angry and incredibly loud screech.

 

“How do we break the contract and send you all back?” Kimura asked as calm as G seemed to be. The mouth snapped closed, the joints cracking back in place with a blood curling snap.

 

The being looked around scowling and with snarl on its face. It stopped on Maki and smiled. “Ah, you. My brother has found you, you are one of us, pretty.” Maki shook her head and looked down. “Come closer. I won’t hurt you, no, I wouldn’t hurt you.” The voice was almost sweet but still not Tegoshi’s. Maki took a step forward and the entity smiled with Tegoshi’s cute smile but looking grotesque and out of place with the dead white eyes and the blood coming down Tegoshi's nose.

 

“Don’t,” G warned and Yamashita grabbed Maki by her wrist and hugged her to his chest but she was still looking at the thing in Tegoshi’s body.

 

“You will do it and you know it, don’t you. You will do something you and everybody you care about will regret, will mourn about. You are almost there. I can’t lie while in this body so you know I’m telling the truth. There is no hope. No matter what anyone says, there is no hope for any of you.”

 

The creature screamed again when G threw some of the liquid he had on Tegoshi’s bare back.

 

“How do we vanish you?” G asked the creature and threw more liquid this time on the chest. It screamed again and this time it sounded as if there were two voices coming out of it.

 

“We are ancient. You can’t get rid of us, we walked the earth long before you and we will walk it again long after you cockroaches are gone. We. Will. Rule!”

 

“How do we vanish you?” And again G threw the liquid on the body. Another blood chilling scream. “Tell us and this stops.”

 

“The watchdog,” the entity spit out.

 

“What watchdog?” The thing merely looked at G in silence.

 

“You have to bring the watchdog, the guard from the gates. If he learns of the contract, he will force us back.”

 

“Watchdog? Like Cerberus?” Shige said. Well, all his reading was paying off apparently.

 

The entity shrugged Tegoshi’s shoulder. “Your kind gave him many names. Now let me out!!!” It jumped backward and “landed” on the wall at the head of the bed on Tegoshi’s feet and arms and was suspended there in a crab like position looking at them.

 

“How do we call it?”

 

“Let me out!!!” It screamed and leaned forward straining Tegoshi’s arms until one of them popped out of its socket. Erika took a deep breath and covered her mouth. The thing looked at her tilting the head to the side. “Ah, so you care about this body? Let me out or I’ll tear it to pieces!” The thing banged Tegoshi’s head against the wall. They could see blood on the wall behind his head. With the arm that wasn’t dislocated reached out and grabbed one of the manacles and with the edge, which was apparently rather sharp, he started cutting and slashing the skin while at the same time, somehow kept banging his head and legs against the wall.

 

“Tell us how!” Screamed G, who was holding Masuda back.

 

“Even if you called him, we will take you down with us. You are ours! Ours! You can never change that!” The entity dropped the manacles and with a violent movement dislocating the other shoulder. “Do you think the boy can survive a broken neck? I sure can.”

 

Shige couldn’t just stand there anymore and it seemed that everybody else in the room thought the same, for they all went running to the bed and grabbed the entity. All of them together slammed the possessed body pinning it on the bed and Masuda came and put both his hands on Tegoshi. There was one last scream that, from the creature’s deep and distorted voice, turned into Tegoshi’s.

  
  


Tegoshi laid there breathing hard until started murmuring something looking at G. He leaned closer and the younger man whispered something in his ear. G closed his eyes and then looked back at Tegoshi and caressing a bruised cheek whispered “Thank you. Thank you.” Then Tegoshi passed out.

 

When the man fainted everybody started talking at the same time and Masuda couldn’t make out what everybody was saying. His heart was beating fast and couldn’t take his eyes from the bed.

 

“… and I know,” G was saying in a commanding voice, “but now we have to tend to him. I will tell you what he said later now move out of the way. And you are all leaving this place.”

 

“What!” Came the general uproar.

 

“Again, I can’t explain now, be ready to leave as soon as we are done here and we can move Tegoshi.”

 

They all looked like they wanted to beat G up but they listened and they grudgingly left the room. Masuda was already looking at the wounds, which were bleeding. A hand gave him disinfectant and gauze. He started to clean them and some looked like they needed stitches. He cleaned and dressed them together with the other two men in silence. Masuda was just working automatically hoping he was doing everything right.

 

“You are coming with us too,” G informed him.

 

“We need to set the arms back to their sockets,” Kimura sensei said without allowing him to answer to the other man. However, he didn’t complain since it brought his attention back to Tegoshi.

 

“Shouldn’t we give him some painkillers? And he hit his head very hard, we should get him to a hospital and make sure he doesn’t have a…”

 

“We will give him painkillers later,” G interrupted. “He is completely out now, he won’t wake up. As for the hit to the head, he’ll be fine. I’ve seen this before, he heals extremely fast. It’s like a way for compensating.”

 

“I know, he told me.”

 

“You just didn’t believe. Come on let’s do this so we can let him sleep.”

 

They reset the articulations and luckily there wasn’t anything broken.

 

“He has something like a rash,” Masuda noted.

 

“The potion. It was made with poisonous herbs, but it won’t kill him. Again, he is very resilient, it's probably one of the reasons the spirits are drawn to him. He can stand quite a beating.” He said this caressing Tegoshi’s hair tenderly. Masuda would have wanted to punch the guy if G hadn’t sound so tired and sad.

 

They said he wouldn’t wake up in a couple of days so they set an IV.

 

“Have you seen this many times?” Masuda asked.

 

“A few,” it was Kimura sensei who answered. “This time could have been the worst but luckily you were here, otherwise we would have had to drive the spirit out and it would have been… worst.”

 

He watched Tegoshi sleep for a few seconds. He looked pale and already Masuda could see some bruises forming.

 

“I still don’t know if I believe this,” he muttered.

 

“I know, it’s not easy,” Kimura sensei said. “But you saw what happened and you have a couple of options. You can tell yourself that there is another explanation. That in his delusion Tegoshi became stronger and got the ability to walk up the walls. You can just walk out now, look for another job and pretend it never happened. Just do all those things before he wakes up, it’ll really hurt him, I think. Or you can believe and stay… or come with us as it seems to be the case.” He said this last part looking a the other man. It wasn’t really angry or even questioning and that was all he said about it. “Oh, and we know how you feel about him. Yamashita told us what you’ve been thinking in the last few months.”

 

“I didn’t…”

 

“Yes, we know you didn’t do anything. It’s okay. He’s not a regular case. Even though we’ve kept him here, he is not crazy and he is capable of making his own decisions. They all are. You are too.  And I think you know by now that you are not a regular doctor.”

 

“I… wait, Yamashita told you what I’ve been thinking?”

 

“Yes, I’m a mind reader. Don’t worry, I haven’t said anything to Tegoshi. I only told them because of what we were about to do.” Masuda turned around and saw Yamashita and Shige, who had come in at some point.

 

“Fujigaya is getting worse. He’s in pain. I think the thing after him is not very happy after this. And we are ready to leave. None of us have many possessions.”

 

“I’ll go see Fujigaya,” Kimura said and left the room.

 

They were all silent for a long time.

 

“So, everything Tegoshi told me is true. Somehow my grandmother sold me to a demon before I was born.” G nodded but kept silent. “Who the hell wrote this fucking story? It really sucks,” Masuda ended in a whisper.

 

“I understand how you feel. It’s like you are being sucked inside the Twilight Zone or something,” Shige said and patted Masuda’s shoulder.

 

“We should move soon. It’s better to move him while he’s asleep. I’ll be back for you and you will have to have decided on what you want to do,” G said before leaving.

 

Masuda’s head was still numb, not really wanting to think about anything.

 

After sometime, minutes maybe hours, G came back. It was time to go. Masuda stood up and went to Tegoshi. “I’ll take him.”

 

He gingerly picked up the younger man, who was heavier than he looked but he could manage and he followed the ex mental patient from the isolation ward to an alternative secluded exit where they got into a car and drove away while he still clang to Tegoshi.

  
  


~~~~~~

 

Down inside the belly of the asylum eight figures could be seen, radiating wrath and rage. The gateway shimmered and more shadows came in. Mere mindless soldiers with no will, but they were needed. There was no time. The eight Generals of the Suzrain were going to get what was rightfully theirs. They couldn’t act directly upon their hosts before they were fully accepted. That was the term of the contract. That didn’t mean they could not use other means to wear them out.

 

In the next few days they would get what was theirs and they would be out in the world like they used to be, like they should be.

 

 


	23. Chapter 23

                                                                            

 

Ryo cursed to himself. He hated having to drive about an hour and a half to get to work and it didn’t help that the heating system of his car wasn’t working and would only get worse as the weather got colder.

 

“Two more days, just two more days and you’ll be at a nice hospital in the middle of the city…” Ryo murmured to himself to curse a second later after taking the wrong turn since he had been too busy muttering to himself.

 

Now he would have to go all the way around the building going by the abandoned side of it, which was frankly creepy. Except what made him stop and gape was not the eerie surroundings but the people getting into two different cars.

 

Before he could think better about what he was doing he stopped his own car next to the other two.

 

“What the hell is going on! Are you breaking out? Cause I look the other way for a LOT of things but this…”

 

“They are not escaping,” Kimura sensei said as he came out of the building. “I’m allowing it.”

 

“But… but… still… this.”

 

Kimura sensei walked past Ryo giving him a pat on the shoulder. He approached Shige handing him a set of keys. “You’ll have to drive. I can’t leave right now. You just follow the other car.” Shige nodded before he turned around to get into the driver’s seat. Yamashita was already in the back seat next to Maki and Fujigaya next to her sitting almost in fetal position.

 

Ryo looked at the other car. “Masuda sensei?” Now he really didn’t understand anything. What was he doing here with all of them? He walked to the other car and noticed the doctor was cradling a body in the back seat.

 

“Tegoshi? What the hell happened to him?” He asked staring at the bruises and cuts and the definitely death-like parlor in the boy’s skin.

 

“Just go home. Go home and don’t come back to this place,” Masuda whispered as he brought the body he was holding closer.

 

“Is… is he….” He let the question linger as he focused on Tegoshi and was relieved to see he was breathing.

 

He felt a hand on his shoulder. “They really have to go, Nishikido-kun.” He turned around to look at Kimura sensei still in a daze.

 

“What the hell is going on?”

 

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Now, you can go back home, I’ll say you are sick. Not that it matters. We are closing today.”

 

~~~~~~

 

Erika woke and for a moment she had no idea where she was. The room was not the small room she had woken up in for the past days, not even the room she had shared with Maki. The only thing that kept her from completely freaking out was the arm around her waist and the soft snore that let little puffs of air on her nape. That had become familiar ever since she had been sharing the room with Shige and Tegoshi. The previous night came slowly to her.

 

They had arrived at the house and the first thing had been making sure Tegoshi was settled and set with an IV since they were not sure when he would wake up and he definitely needed pain killers. Maki had gone with Yamashita into one of the many rooms. She seemed better, the same as Fujigaya. Maybe being away from that damn place they had sort of called home for years was doing them some good. They had all sacrificed asking all the questions in their mind for a good night sleep and so she and Shige had pretty much passed out as soon as they had hit the mattress.

 

She was on her side and she could see a window with white curtains that partially let the sunlight in. The walls were painted black but they didn’t give an oppressive feeling at all, probably thanks to white and light colored decorations that very well illuminated room and the light that would pour into the room through the wide window. The mattress was definitely not the one at the institution, it was soft and much more roomy and a lot warmer.

 

Or maybe, it was the fact that Shige was waking up and had brought her closer to him, like Erika had gotten used to in the mornings they had woken up together when she had sneaked into his room. Except, now there was no need to hurriedly get up before the nurses found her there and there was no one else in the room. Tegoshi was not there. He was lying in another room probably still in that deep sleep, since she refused to call it a coma.

 

She felt Shige’s lips on her shoulder and she turned around in his arms until she was facing him. He was still puffy from sleep and his eyes barely open. He smiled sleepily. “Good morning.”

 

“Good morning,” she greeted. “We should get up and get to the others.”

 

Shige groaned and cuddled closer nuzzling her neck. “Just a little longer.”

 

“Mmh. We really should…”

 

“We really should enjoy being in a warm bed, alone and without any nurses around.” His voice was gruffer than usual with sleep, or maybe something more, as he languidly ran his hand up and down her back under the loose shirt she had slept on to later disappear under her pants.

 

“You know,” he said lifting his head to look at her. “Things will still be fucked up out there, whether we go out now or in, oh, let’s say... an hour?”

 

Erika decided he was right and the way he was nipping at her and rubbing his nose against her neck was starting to make her thoughts all scattered anyway so she just stopped thinking. She threw a leg around her boyfriend’s waist and wiggled even closer, which she hadn’t thought possible.

 

“Okay, maybe two hours,” he whispered before kissing her.

  
  


Shige had been right. Everything was still pretty much fucked up when they finally joined the others in the dining room of the spacious and luxurious house. Tegoshi had not woken up. Erika had sat in his room with Masuda sensei.

 

Shige had come and gone from the room quietly. It wasn’t like he didn’t care about his roommate; it was just that he just couldn’t stay in one place. The developments of the previous days still too fresh in his mind, he didn’t know what to do with himself or with the situation for that matter.

 

In all honestly he had thought about just leaving but he had ruled that out. He was sure that wherever they went, those things would follow, if not physically, in his own head. And even if that wasn’t the case, this was the first time he had felt at ease with a group of people, even in an impossible situation such as this.

 

He still needed to do one more thing though and he didn’t want anyone around. He picked up the phone he had seen in the room where he and Erika had slept.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Hi, mom.” There was an almost imperceptible silence.

 

“Shigeaki?”

 

“Yeah, it’s me.”

 

“You haven’t called in a while.”

 

Neither have you, Shige though but said, “I know.”

 

Now that his mother was on the other side he had no idea what to say. He couldn’t tell her what was really going on.

 

“How have you been, dear? Are you taking your medication? How is the therapy going?”

 

“It’s going fine. I’m not crazy anymore.”

 

“Shigeaki…”

 

“Sorry. It’s going well. I… I even have friends.”

 

“In there?”

 

Shige smiled sadly at the reproving tone. “Where am I going to meet any new people? They are nice and there is a female ward here. I kinda have a girlfriend.”

 

“What? Is that kind of thing allowed?”

 

“No, but it’s been keeping me sane, whether you believe it or not. You would actually like her.” Or maybe she wouldn’t, but it really didn’t matter since her mother and Erika would never meet.

 

“Dear, I don’t think mixing with people who are not sound of mind…”

 

“Mom, I didn’t call for this.” He had figured that he would either die or if they survive whatever was going to happen with those things, that they would have to disappear and he didn’t want to argue with his mother. “I just wanted to say that I’m fine and that… I love you. Even if I know I’m not exactly the son you wanted…”

 

“That’s not…”

 

“You don’t have to say anything. I don’t resent you for having me locked up, I understand. And, yeah, I love you.”

 

“I love you too. But what’s with all this, it’s like you are saying good bye. You’ll get better and then you can come back.”

 

“I really can’t, mom.” And further evidence that he wouldn’t be welcome was the fact that his mother didn’t insist further. “Is he… Are you okay? Are you happy?”

 

“Yes, he... is on a trip, a long one. But life is good and work is going well. You don't have to worry about me. Just focus on healing.”

 

“Good.” Shige wouldn’t ask more. It was really beyond him now and he had accepted it. “I have to go, now.”

 

“Okay. I’ll try to go see you next visitation day.” She was lying but Shige didn’t call her on it.

 

“Bye.”

 

“Bye.”

 

He hung up, not really feeling any better. He turned around and was startled by Yamashita. Shit. He hadn’t wanted anyone to hear.

 

“In that case, I didn’t hear anything. Lunch time.”

  
  
  
  


“What do you think is going on at the institution now?” Koyama asked absentmindedly looking out of the window, probably more as a way to break the silence than anything else.

 

“I don’t know. Don’t really care either,” Fujigaya grunted.

 

“G hasn’t said much and I don’t think Kimura sensei came back,” Yamashita commented, but none of them really felt like keeping up a conversation.

 

“Fujigaya and I are going to die,” Maki said out of the blue.

 

“Maki…” Erika started.

 

“I saw it. It will happen.”

 

“No,” Yamashita said. He went to Maki and tentatively put his hands on her shoulders. She didn’t push him away this time and he hugged her to him. “We won’t let it happen. I won’t let it happen.”

 

Maki’s expression didn’t change. “You will. You will have to or I will kill you. You or me and you are stronger. You or me you or me you or me…” she kept murmuring.

 

Fujigaya was on the other side of the room. He was so tired and everything hurt. Being away from the place helped but the pain was still there, ever present. He wondered what that was. There was nothing wrong with him physically so it was all in his head. And now he was gonna die? Only him. And he had done everything to help them and nobody cared, he was still gonna die and nobody cared. He should do something, If he just gave in… Convince them all to give in… then it would stop. They wouldn’t have their bodies but their souls would be fine… maybe…

 

Fujigaya closed his eyes and tried to ignore the voice in his head. It wasn’t their fault, they had all opposed to what he wanted to do. And he knew the things were all coming and they had been their targets all along. Maybe it would be a kindness if he killed them all, he could be quick, just a slit on the throat let the blood flow… and then no more worries… just give in…

 

He put his hands on either side of his head. This had to end soon, one way or another, it had to end soon.

 

 


	24. Chapter 24

                                                                            

 

Ryo cursed to himself. He hated having to drive about an hour and a half to get to work and it didn’t help that the heating system of his car wasn’t working and would only get worse as the weather got colder.

 

“Two more days, just two more days and you’ll be at a nice hospital in the middle of the city…” Ryo murmured to himself to curse a second later after taking the wrong turn since he had been too busy muttering to himself.

 

Now he would have to go all the way around the building going by the abandoned side of it, which was frankly creepy. Except what made him stop and gape was not the eerie surroundings but the people getting into two different cars.

 

Before he could think better about what he was doing he stopped his own car next to the other two.

 

“What the hell is going on! Are you breaking out? Cause I look the other way for a LOT of things but this…”

 

“They are not escaping,” Kimura sensei said as he came out of the building. “I’m allowing it.”

 

“But… but… still… this.”

 

Kimura sensei walked past Ryo giving him a pat on the shoulder. He approached Shige handing him a set of keys. “You’ll have to drive. I can’t leave right now. You just follow the other car.” Shige nodded before he turned around to get into the driver’s seat. Yamashita was already in the back seat next to Maki and Fujigaya next to her sitting almost in fetal position.

 

Ryo looked at the other car. “Masuda sensei?” Now he really didn’t understand anything. What was he doing here with all of them? He walked to the other car and noticed the doctor was cradling a body in the back seat.

 

“Tegoshi? What the hell happened to him?” He asked staring at the bruises and cuts and the definitely death-like parlor in the boy’s skin.

 

“Just go home. Go home and don’t come back to this place,” Masuda whispered as he brought the body he was holding closer.

 

“Is… is he….” He let the question linger as he focused on Tegoshi and was relieved to see he was breathing.

 

He felt a hand on his shoulder. “They really have to go, Nishikido-kun.” He turned around to look at Kimura sensei still in a daze.

 

“What the hell is going on?”

 

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Now, you can go back home, I’ll say you are sick. Not that it matters. We are closing today.”

 

~~~~~~

 

Erika woke and for a moment she had no idea where she was. The room was not the small room she had woken up in for the past days, not even the room she had shared with Maki. The only thing that kept her from completely freaking out was the arm around her waist and the soft snore that let little puffs of air on her nape. That had become familiar ever since she had been sharing the room with Shige and Tegoshi. The previous night came slowly to her.

 

They had arrived at the house and the first thing had been making sure Tegoshi was settled and set with an IV since they were not sure when he would wake up and he definitely needed pain killers. Maki had gone with Yamashita into one of the many rooms. She seemed better, the same as Fujigaya. Maybe being away from that damn place they had sort of called home for years was doing them some good. They had all sacrificed asking all the questions in their mind for a good night sleep and so she and Shige had pretty much passed out as soon as they had hit the mattress.

 

She was on her side and she could see a window with white curtains that partially let the sunlight in. The walls were painted black but they didn’t give an oppressive feeling at all, probably thanks to white and light colored decorations that very well illuminated room and the light that would pour into the room through the wide window. The mattress was definitely not the one at the institution, it was soft and much more roomy and a lot warmer.

 

Or maybe, it was the fact that Shige was waking up and had brought her closer to him, like Erika had gotten used to in the mornings they had woken up together when she had sneaked into his room. Except, now there was no need to hurriedly get up before the nurses found her there and there was no one else in the room. Tegoshi was not there. He was lying in another room probably still in that deep sleep, since she refused to call it a coma.

 

She felt Shige’s lips on her shoulder and she turned around in his arms until she was facing him. He was still puffy from sleep and his eyes barely open. He smiled sleepily. “Good morning.”

 

“Good morning,” she greeted. “We should get up and get to the others.”

 

Shige groaned and cuddled closer nuzzling her neck. “Just a little longer.”

 

“Mmh. We really should…”

 

“We really should enjoy being in a warm bed, alone and without any nurses around.” His voice was gruffer than usual with sleep, or maybe something more, as he languidly ran his hand up and down her back under the loose shirt she had slept on to later disappear under her pants.

 

“You know,” he said lifting his head to look at her. “Things will still be fucked up out there, whether we go out now or in, oh, let’s say... an hour?”

 

Erika decided he was right and the way he was nipping at her and rubbing his nose against her neck was starting to make her thoughts all scattered anyway so she just stopped thinking. She threw a leg around her boyfriend’s waist and wiggled even closer, which she hadn’t thought possible.

 

“Okay, maybe two hours,” he whispered before kissing her.

  
  


Shige had been right. Everything was still pretty much fucked up when they finally joined the others in the dining room of the spacious and luxurious house. Tegoshi had not woken up. Erika had sat in his room with Masuda sensei.

 

Shige had come and gone from the room quietly. It wasn’t like he didn’t care about his roommate; it was just that he just couldn’t stay in one place. The developments of the previous days still too fresh in his mind, he didn’t know what to do with himself or with the situation for that matter.

 

In all honestly he had thought about just leaving but he had ruled that out. He was sure that wherever they went, those things would follow, if not physically, in his own head. And even if that wasn’t the case, this was the first time he had felt at ease with a group of people, even in an impossible situation such as this.

 

He still needed to do one more thing though and he didn’t want anyone around. He picked up the phone he had seen in the room where he and Erika had slept.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Hi, mom.” There was an almost imperceptible silence.

 

“Shigeaki?”

 

“Yeah, it’s me.”

 

“You haven’t called in a while.”

 

Neither have you, Shige though but said, “I know.”

 

Now that his mother was on the other side he had no idea what to say. He couldn’t tell her what was really going on.

 

“How have you been, dear? Are you taking your medication? How is the therapy going?”

 

“It’s going fine. I’m not crazy anymore.”

 

“Shigeaki…”

 

“Sorry. It’s going well. I… I even have friends.”

 

“In there?”

 

Shige smiled sadly at the reproving tone. “Where am I going to meet any new people? They are nice and there is a female ward here. I kinda have a girlfriend.”

 

“What? Is that kind of thing allowed?”

 

“No, but it’s been keeping me sane, whether you believe it or not. You would actually like her.” Or maybe she wouldn’t, but it really didn’t matter since her mother and Erika would never meet.

 

“Dear, I don’t think mixing with people who are not sound of mind…”

 

“Mom, I didn’t call for this.” He had figured that he would either die or if they survive whatever was going to happen with those things, that they would have to disappear and he didn’t want to argue with his mother. “I just wanted to say that I’m fine and that… I love you. Even if I know I’m not exactly the son you wanted…”

 

“That’s not…”

 

“You don’t have to say anything. I don’t resent you for having me locked up, I understand. And, yeah, I love you.”

 

“I love you too. But what’s with all this, it’s like you are saying good bye. You’ll get better and then you can come back.”

 

“I really can’t, mom.” And further evidence that he wouldn’t be welcome was the fact that his mother didn’t insist further. “Is he… Are you okay? Are you happy?”

 

“Yes, he... is on a trip, a long one. But life is good and work is going well. You don't have to worry about me. Just focus on healing.”

 

“Good.” Shige wouldn’t ask more. It was really beyond him now and he had accepted it. “I have to go, now.”

 

“Okay. I’ll try to go see you next visitation day.” She was lying but Shige didn’t call her on it.

 

“Bye.”

 

“Bye.”

 

He hung up, not really feeling any better. He turned around and was startled by Yamashita. Shit. He hadn’t wanted anyone to hear.

 

“In that case, I didn’t hear anything. Lunch time.”

  
  
  
  


“What do you think is going on at the institution now?” Koyama asked absentmindedly looking out of the window, probably more as a way to break the silence than anything else.

 

“I don’t know. Don’t really care either,” Fujigaya grunted.

 

“G hasn’t said much and I don’t think Kimura sensei came back,” Yamashita commented, but none of them really felt like keeping up a conversation.

 

“Fujigaya and I are going to die,” Maki said out of the blue.

 

“Maki…” Erika started.

 

“I saw it. It will happen.”

 

“No,” Yamashita said. He went to Maki and tentatively put his hands on her shoulders. She didn’t push him away this time and he hugged her to him. “We won’t let it happen. I won’t let it happen.”

 

Maki’s expression didn’t change. “You will. You will have to or I will kill you. You or me and you are stronger. You or me you or me you or me…” she kept murmuring.

 

Fujigaya was on the other side of the room. He was so tired and everything hurt. Being away from the place helped but the pain was still there, ever present. He wondered what that was. There was nothing wrong with him physically so it was all in his head. And now he was gonna die? Only him. And he had done everything to help them and nobody cared, he was still gonna die and nobody cared. He should do something, If he just gave in… Convince them all to give in… then it would stop. They wouldn’t have their bodies but their souls would be fine… maybe…

 

Fujigaya closed his eyes and tried to ignore the voice in his head. It wasn’t their fault, they had all opposed to what he wanted to do. And he knew the things were all coming and they had been their targets all along. Maybe it would be a kindness if he killed them all, he could be quick, just a slit on the throat let the blood flow… and then no more worries… just give in…

 

He put his hands on either side of his head. This had to end soon, one way or another, it had to end soon.

 

 


	25. Chapter 25

                                                                         

 

They spent two days in the house in blissful denial, at least the ones who could. Shige and Erika enjoyed the small resemblance of a somewhat semi normal couple life. Fujigaya spent a lot of time outside, even if it was increasingly cold. Maki was still almost out of it most of the time but Yamashita stayed by her side and, sometimes, she would rest her head on his shoulder and they looked nearly normal.

 

Tegoshi was healing. He had slept for hours. In that time he woke up, ate and then fell asleep almost immediately, nearly without fail, holding Masuda’s hand. I couple of times G’s or Erika’s when Masuda was not there. It was like he needed the reassurance that he was not alone and that he would not be left there.

 

His mind had not completely process the fact that they were outside the institutions ground, which was probably good. That day he woke up feeling actually rested. He tested his muscles moving tentatively his arms then he sat and let his feet touch the wooden floor. They were a little shaky but his leg supported his weight with little problem. He walked slowly to the bathroom and was proud he was finally able to walk alone; Massu had been helping him and berating him every time he tried to do it on his own.

 

As he went back to the room with an increasingly steadier step, he saw a window covered with deep burgundy colored curtains. He walked slowly towards them, not because he couldn’t walk faster but because he wasn’t sure what he would see outside. He had only seen the inside of the room, he had been too tired and Mussu’s shoulder had been too comfortable.

 

He reached out and moved the curtains away. There was only a garden surrounded by trees. He didn’t see any other construction or even people in sight. He was glad; he wasn’t sure he would be able to handle a bustling street or even neighbors right now. His memories of being out in the world were not exactly rose colored and “sane” people did not respond that well to him as a general rule.

 

The view was not that different from that of the institution, really. Nothing but trees as far as the eye could see, but he still felt it, the feeling of not being home anymore. He chuckled, or was more like a sob mixed with a groan. How pathetic was he that he was homesick about a psychiatric institution?

 

He felt a soft warm weight on his shoulder. He turned around but he knew who it was.

 

“You are up. How are you feeling?” Massu asked with a professional frown.

 

“Fine. Hardly anything hurts.”

 

“That’s good but that’s not what I meant.”

 

“Are you gonna start analyzing me? That’s not very sexy, you know? Well, maybe if you wear your white coat with nothing but a stethoscope…”

 

“Tegoshi…”

 

“I’m fine. I’m highly adaptable and that is true.”

 

“Okay,” Massu gave in, not entirely convinced. “Does it hurt anywhere?” Tegoshi shook his head. “Are you sure?” He nodded. “There still are a few stitches to remove…” He spoke thoughtfully, looking at Tegoshi’s head where the wound was. “You really do heal fast.”

 

Tegoshi nodded again. “Massu…”

 

“Mhh?”

 

“Massu.” This time Massu focused on him. Tegoshi smiled. “Nothing hurts anymore.”

 

“That’s good, like I said you he…”

 

Tegoshi didn’t let him finish. He just all but pounced and kissed him. Massu had refused to more that little pecks on the lips, and Tegoshi hadn’t insisted much because it had actually hurt when they first kissed.

 

Well, not anymore. Massu only let their lips barely touch before he moved away and disentangle Tegoshi’s arms from his neck.

 

“Tegoshi, don’t… I mean...”

 

Tegoshi put his arms behind his back. “I’m sorry,” he said in a small contrite voice. He knew it, everything changed in the outside. People never responded well to him in the outside. What would happen if he was possessed here? “I’m sorry,” he repeated as he backed up towards the wall. He stopped when his back hit the wall.

 

In the back of his head, he knew he was not being rational, but he couldn’t stop himself. He just wanted to make himself small and get out of sight so that everybody would leave him alone.

 

“Tegoshi,” Massu’s soft voice reached him. “What is it?”

 

He shook his head.

 

“Tegoshi, I wasn’t rejecting you…” Tegoshi shook his head again. He didn’t really understand what was happening himself. “Is… it coming, something like last time.” Tegoshi shook his head frantically.  “Tegoshi, what is it? Tell me.”

 

“I don’t know. I want to go back. I don’t want…”

 

“What don’t you want?”

 

“Like before, I don’t want…”

 

“What happened with you mother?” Tegoshi looked down. He realized that at some point he had sat on the floor. “That won’t happen. No one here will hurt you like that. You trusted us before.”

 

“Outside is different,” his voice faltered.

 

“It’s not.”

 

“You are different.”

 

“No, I’m not. I told you, I wasn’t rejecting you, I just… you are still recovering and well, I do have some issues with displays of affection when anybody can come in. There are 8 other people who don’t usually knock, it’s unnerving.”

 

“See? Different. You never kissed me back at the institution and you didn’t blab as much.”

 

“I was a doctor there. If I had done those things there, I wouldn’t have lasted much, now, would I?”

 

Tegoshi’s chuckle was imperceptible and short lived but still there. “I’m sorry I freak out. I don’t know what happened.”

 

“It’s okay. It would be weird if you didn’t freak out. But it’ll be fine.”

 

Tegoshi nodded, wide eyes a little moist with unshed tears. He blinked them away and stared at Masuda again with big doe eyes that still held some fear in them and pouty lips, which were slightly red since he had been unconsciously biting down on them.

 

Masuda grabbed the back of the man’s head and brought him until their lips fused together. Right away, Tegoshi tilted his head and let his lips part and his tongue taste him. He wasn’t surprised; the other man always seemed to take the lead. Masuda wasn't having that, he deepened the kiss, he lead over Tegoshi until his head touch the wall and he had to tilt his head up a little.

 

They missed the first two coughs, but on the third one Masuda jumped away and had the urge to start excusing himself. What stopped him were Tegoshi’s laugh and the fact that the person who had interrupted was G and he still didn’t like the man.

 

“You are feeling better, right, Tegoshi?”

 

“Since when do you call me Tegoshi?”

 

“Since I asked you to do something and you ended up getting hurt.”

 

Tegoshi shrugged and lifted his arm to let Masuda let him up. Just like that Tegoshi had changed, like he had an internal switch. Masuda could still see a hint of fear, or maybe insecurity, but Tegoshi’s whole demeanor changed.

 

Once he was off the floor, Tegoshi let go of Masuda’s hand, not before lingering there, and then walked up to the third man there. He had to look up since the guy was practically a giant.

 

“I don’t mind about that…”

 

“I do,” both Masuda and G said at the same time.

 

Tegoshi rolled his eyes. “I’ve had worse. I’m not crazy about you lying for 8 years. I really trusted you.”

 

“I’m sorry. I should have told you, at least when you were old enough.”

 

Tegoshi nodded, looking very much like a kid looking up to his dad, all solemn. “I forgive you. But I’m not sure when I’ll forget.”

 

“You don’t have to forget.”

 

“Okay. I’m hungry. Is it breakfast time?”

 

“You skipped breakfast, it’s lunch time,” G laughed.

 

“No wonder I’m hungry. Let’s go Massu.” He extended his hand, which Masuda took and then walked to the dining room.

 

 

 

For the rest of the evening G and Kimura refused to talk about what he was planning or what was going on. They didn’t really push since their stay in that house was the closest thing to normal any of had had in a long time, some of them, ever. Even if they would have denied it, they wanted to at least pretend that everything was okay, they would worry about the future later.

 

But the future was not going to be ignored, nor put off.

 

 

They ate and went to bed. G knew the talk would come soon enough, but he wanted to let them enjoy peace a little longer. He didn’t know if he was up for it, yet, either.

 

The all lay down on their beds, the ones sleeping alone, let their thoughts ran until they finally fell asleep. The others drifted to sleep between whispered words and soft kisses, all of them having a feeling something would happen, but none really aware.

 

 

 

 

Koyama was in a long corridor. It looked like the asylum, but it was different somehow. He didn’t know what was going on, he just knew he had to keep walking. He was looking for someone. Who?

 

Him. He saw the man walking. He was wearing a white coat, black hair falling on his deep brown eyes. He was very handsome and probably some years older than Koyama himself. He looked familiar but Koyama could not quite place him. He started following and the man turned around abruptly, looking straight at him, or more like through him. The man looked around, like looking for someone, he knew instinctively that the man could sense him but not see him.

 

That was when it hit Koyama. He knew the man. Ouguri Shun. His grandfather. Now Koyama started to follow him in earnest. Was this a dream? Was he back in the past? Could he change anything?

 

His grandfather walked the halls until he met a man. He was shorter than his grandfather, jet black hair and dark eyes that looked almost black, Mishima Hiro and he was followed by someone Koyama knew well.

 

Shige, He tried to say but no sound would come out. The same happened to Shige. His heart was beating against his chest as they both did what they were compelled to do: follow their predecessors.

 

The two men had nodded a greeting and kept on walking with their future grandchildren behind. They reached a door and knocked. A “come in” was heard from inside. The room was just like any other conference room. There was nothing sinister about it, except the man preceding the table. His aura breathed mistrust even if his appearance was ordinary. There were also shadows around him and both Shige and Koyama stood as far away as possible.

 

One by one, they all arrived, all the doctors and the nurses that had started all this. Maki was shaking like a leaf as she stood by Yamashita. They were all there, huddled together, looking for support and maybe even protection in their closeness.

 

The talk had already started. Their grandparents were explained about the proposition, some looked frightened, others outraged. They didn’t believe at first until one of the entities materialized.

 

The cute looking nurse screamed and her hand instinctively flew to her still flat stomach. Tabe Mikako, she had been pregnant at the time, Koyama remembered. Tegoshi had been right, she really did look like Masuda sensei. Kamenashi put an arm around her protectively.

 

The entity, merely a shapeless shadow at first, took a more human like appearance and spoke in a hollow yet gentle voice none of them would have thought possible.

 

“Do not cower, Tabe Mikako, we are not looking to harm your child.”

 

The young woman paled. “How do you know?”

 

We know everything about all of you. We are not looking to harm any of you. We simply want to live. We will give you what you desire and in return, after the third cycle…”

 

“You will come and take our souls,” Takisawa spoke up.

 

“We have no interest in souls, only bodies. We need bodies fit for us. When we come back, you will have no need for the bodies we will come looking for.”

 

Yeah, because it is our bodies they are after, not theirs, Koyama thought.

 

They all resisted at first but were one by one won over. They could understand some of them. A single mother in a time when single mothers were just unacceptable. And all the time, Koyama could see the shadows, whispering into their ears without them being aware of it. They all had their reasons, but it did not change the fact that they had damned innocent people that had not even been born yet, that had never had a say in it.

 

There was nothing much to it. It was not like in the movies, with chanting or sacrifices. They simply accepted and then Katori sensei said:

 

“Now, we need to seal our pledge.” He turned around and lifted a cloth that had been lying unnoticed until now. Underneath it there was a knife.

 

“What the hell are you going to do with that?”

 

“Don’t worry, Takizawa sensei, I won’t hurt any of you. But this is no mere contract, a signature in ink on a piece of paper will not do, this requires a deeper commitment.” He turned around again to take what looked like a ceramic bowl and set it on the table. “You all need to give an offering, a blood offering.”

 

Again there were protests. Again, the murmur of the voices of the Suzerain whispered in their ears. In the end the knife was passed around and they all bled into the ceramic container enough so that, at the end, it was two quarters full.

 

In the end, their grandparents left, shaking, pale and not really knowing exactly what they had done.

 

Katori sensei was left alone. The shadows that had been next to every doctor and nurse in the room disappeared and the entity that had spoken before said: “You know what to do now.”

 

The man nodded right before there was a knock at the door. A nurse, one that had not been present for the events Koyama and the rest had witness, came in bringing a man with vacant eyes. They had all been in a mental institution long enough to recognize the signs of drugs in someone’s system.

 

“Thank you, Aragaki san, that will be all. Remember, you were never here.”

 

The nurse gave him a shallow bow and left without given the patient she had brought in a second look.

 

Katori sensei took the man by the arm and brought him docilely to the table and made him lay down. The man was too far gone to do much more than lay there. Whatever it was that the man had been given must have been strong because he never questioned, never seemed to care, not even when the doctor started murmuring in an unknown language and later on raised the knife and plunged it in then man’s heart. He didn’t even scream.

 

The unwilling witnesses cowered back. Koyama saw Erika tighten her grip and hiding behind Shige with the corner of his eye but most of his attention was focused on the terrifying image before him. The doctor was cutting the now dead man’s wrist and forcing the blood into the container until it was full.

 

“With the blood of the innocent and the blood of the sacrifices I seal this.” With that he drank the red thick liquid. Koyama wanted to shout, to cry, to run away. He didn’t want to see anymore but, like the rest he was frozen there, unable to move. Like in nightmares, he couldn’t escape.

 

“Now, it is done. I will come back.”

 

“Yes,” the Suzerain said, “when we rise, you will rise with us with your own powerful body.”

 

Right then, the image froze. Katori sensei was plastered with an evil smile, his mouth covered in blood. The entity turned and pierced them with a look.

 

“Now, you see, you cannot do anything but accept your fate. Give in and we will take your bodies but spare your souls. Resist and we will make sure you fall to hell and be tormented by eternity. Is that what you want?” It turned abruptly and stared at Maki. “Is it?”

 

The thing disappeared and so did Maki. Yamashita looked around desperately and then there was the first sound one of them could utter. Yamashita let out a loud painful scream and disappeared too.

 

“What is going on?” Tegoshi shouted and then, from the distance, they heard another scream. Even if it was far away they could tell it was Yamashita again calling for help. Shige and then Erika, followed by Tegoshi and Massu and finally Fujigaya, they all disappeared.

 

Koyama panicked until he knew what was happening. They were waking up. He had to wake up to.

 

“Kei chan,” a soft female voice he hadn’t heard in years called him. He recognized it right away. How could he ever forget?

 

“Lin?”

 

She smiled. Her body was translucent but it was still her, the way she had been when they were seventeen. The way she looked when he had not been able to save her from dying.

 

“We don’t have much time. I wanted to see you. You’ll have to come back and I don’t know what will happen.”

 

“You are… here. Is it really you.”

 

“How could I leave you? I’ve always been near you. And I will be when you come back. I’ll be waiting for you.”

 

“So, I’ll die?” Koyama was strangely calm while saying this. He had wanted to join her ever since she had left.

 

“I don’t want you too. But if you do, I’ll be waiting. Whatever you do, remember that, I’ll be waiting for you.”

 

And then he woke up to screaming outside his room.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~

 

She woke up in a startled, sitting in bed. Her felt the wetness in her cheeks. It was all a nightmare. Shige woke up in the same way next to her, but with a startled yell. They were both breathing hard but couldn’t recover before they heard screaming outside. They jumped out bed at the same time and ran out.

 

The screaming was coming from down the hall. Yamashita’s room. When they got to it, Kimura sensei and G were already there. Kimura sensei was kneeling next to Yamashita, who was bleeding on the floor. Right behind them, came Tegoshi and Masuda sensei.

 

“I’m fine!” Yamashita was shouting. “Go check on her!”

 

“G is with her. Now, stay still and let me see how deep it is!”

 

“She just wouldn’t stop. She wouldn’t.”

 

“I know, lay down or you’ll make your wound worse.”

 

Erika took in the scene in the room, shifting her focus from the two men to G kneeling next to Maki. She seemed unconscious. The big mirror on the wall was shattered and the pieces were scattered about the room.

 

“She is alive and she seemes stable,” G informed. “I don’t think she was too hurt. She might need some stitches in her hand, but that’s all.”

 

“See?” Kimura sensei told Yamashita. “She is fine, now let me tend to you.” Yamashita nodded. “Good. Lay down. Masuda sensei, please help me here. We need to remove the glass.”

 

Erika frowned, not knowing what the doctor was referring to. Only when he moved did she see a long piece of the mirror embedded in his shoulder.

 

“Kato kun, help me move Maki chan. I don’t want to jostle her.”

 

Erika backed up against the wall just to get out of the way, or maybe she just needed some support. First the nightmare, now this. It was too much.

 

When she heard Yamashita barely stifle a scream as they removed the glass with a wet horrible sound, she started to shake. She felt an arm pressed across her shoulders.

 

“Eri chan, just breath.”

 

She turned to see Tegoshi’s big unblinking eyes. “Yuya, what…” She couldn’t even finish the sentence.

 

“I don’t know. I just don’t know.”

 

She let her forehead fall against his shoulder, taking deep breaths, willing her heart to stop racing and failing.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“We have to go back,” G said looking out the window, not facing them. Shige wondered if maybe he couldn’t.

 

Shige tensed at those words, they all visibly tensed but none disagreed or even said anything. They had all known peace would eventually end. Running away from the asylum may have bought them time, but had not fixed the problem, they were still haunted, sort of speak.

 

“Do you know what to do now?” Tegoshi asked, more composed than Shige would have thought.

 

“I… we have an idea. However, we don’t know what we will find there or if it will work.”

 

“And we won’t force you to go,” Kimura sensei added.

 

“True, but I don’t think we have a chance, unless we are all there I’m sure it can’t be stopped. But, no, we won’t force you. If you choose you can go to the next city and start a new life.”

 

Shige snorted. “So much for a choice. And we will still be plagued by these… dreams, I bet.”

 

“Until the suzerain are returned to where they came from, probably.”

 

"What will we have to do?" Erica asked managing to keep any trembling off her voice.

 

"There are two instances. One is to recreate the original ritual in which the contract was sealed. And then we have to draw the keepers attention."

 

"The keeper? What is that?"

 

"When Tegoshi kun was possessed, he took from the suzerain's mind that the ony way to return the beings permanently, is to bring the cerberus to close the gate. At first I had no idea what that meant so I've been researching and I found that in many obscure writings there are mentions of a gatekeeper that ensures that the veil between the different world is secure and that every being stays where they belong. Sometimes these gatekeepers may fail, miss a few spots, if you will and the demons can reach our world and stay by attaching themselves to a human, either by possession or contracts. We need to get it's attention and that should take care of the problem."

 

"Should?" Shige asked, not very satisfied with the vague plan.

 

"Yes, should. We are not sure about anything. There was little record of our grandfather's research and dealings."

 

"And what little we could find, was almost illegible and some were rants of a crazy man," Kimura sensei added.

 

"I can only assure you," G continued, "that the last thing we want is for any of you to get hurt, even more than you have so far. I'll try to protect you as much as I can and I'll do everything in my power for all of you to get out of there."

 

"But we still have to go back." Tegoshi stated. It wasn't a question and G didn't even nod, it was obvious.

 

"What will happen after that? I mean, if  we all survive, what will happen after that."

 

"You really believe we won't die," Fujigaya spit out. "Then you are as stupid as you look, Togoshi. We were all damned before we were born and if you had seen what I have, if you knew what the suzerain are like, you would know that we cannot really win."

 

"So you are saying we take it lying down?"

 

"I'm saying I don't give a fuck how we take it. The end result will be the same, at least for me. However, if you want to go in a blaze of glory, I'm all for it. Again, I don't give a fuck."

 

"Awesome. Gloomy speech given, pending doom acknowledge, now it's time to talk about what exactly we will have to do. Oohh can we dance around a bonfire chanting?" Tegoshi asked in the excited voiced that made Shige think about the times they had met in the asylum. A small shiver went down his spine.

 

~~~~~~~~~

 

It had been decided, they would all go back in two days. They had to say goodbye to their resemblance of sanity.

 

Erika was not sure how she felt. She was happy to be out, even if they couldn't leave the house where they were staying in.

 

On the other hand, Erika thought looking at Shige who was already sleeping next to her, he met you in there. It's not like he had many options in there. Do you actually think he would not go with someone better, prettier? He will leave as soon as you are out in the world.

 

"Eri, are you okay?" Shige's sleepy voice asked. She nodded. "Are you sure?" He asked once he sat down rubbing his eyes. When he ran his thumb across her cheek, she realized there were tears there. "What is it?"

 

"Nothing. Well, everything, I guess," she shrugged.

 

"It'll be fine. We'll finish this and then, I don't care how, we'll leave and get an apartment in some city. We'll figure out a way to get IDs and anything we need. Hell, you have ghosts to help us. And well, if the others come, it'll be even easier. Life would be more annoying, but definitely easier."

 

Erika chuckled and Shige smiled. He kissed both her cheeks before kissing her lips. Shige was really okay with being with her. He would not just start looking for someone else as soon as the possibility was there. Although with that realization, a frightening idea came. Those thoughts from before were not hers. And if they weren't hers...

 

She shut her eyes close and snuggled tight against the body next to her, hoping the heat from it would warm her.  

 

~~~~~~~~~

 

"Do you remember what I asked you?" He asked the man on the other side of the line. "Yes, I know you don't like it, but you know what's at stake." He nodded even if the other man couldn't see him. "I'll send you an e-mail with all you need to do. It'll be from a free untraceable account. You'll have to open one too. Do you remember the username? Good, no one will trace anything back to you." A pause while the other man spoke. "You will be rewarded." Another pause. "I know but will you do it? Thank you."

 

Kimura turned around to look at the man sitting behind him.

 

"So he will do it?"

 

"Yes, but he doesn't like it any more than I do."

 

"You don't have to go or do anything, you know. I'm the son of the oldest son."

 

"Like I would leave now. We've always been in this together, why would I leave now?"

 

"Well, because now, there is a good chance of not making it."

 

"I know and every bone in my body is telling me to run. But I guess I'm too stupid to listen to my self."

 

~~~~~~~

 

Once Yamashita had recovered enough from his injuries, which had mostly turned out superficial,  they were on their way, back to that place. They didn't know what they would find there after being all but abandoned for all that time. I would be nothing like they remembered.


	26. Chapter 26

                                                                            

 

They arrived at around three but the weather was so overcast that the gray clouds darkened the already gloomy sight of the asylum giving the impression of twilight already. On the outside, it looked more dreary than it had ever looked before, even on the day when he had been brought in, when he had been nothing but a small scared boy and everything looked mountainous and overwhelming. It still looked all those things and more, more suffocating in a way. But he was not a child anymore. As that time all those years ago, he was going to something unknown but he was an adult now, maybe not a completely sane and well adjusted adult, but an adult all the same and he would not cower or cave and hold someone's hand. He wouldn't, no way. He wouldn't...

 

"What are you mumbling about?" Massu asked next to him, as he felt a warm hand on his.

 

Tegoshi turned from the car window to Massu. "Just mumbling like a good crazy person." Massu rolled his eyes. "Doctor, please, please cure me," Tegoshi started to sing softly against his former doctor’s ear. "I guess that's our song."

 

"I'm not having an Aqua song as our song. And don't be nervous, everything will be fine."

 

"I'm not nervous," he lied turning back to the window.

 

"You are and there is no shame in that. We have no idea what we will find there or what we will have to do. I'm scared witless," Massu confessed as he let go of Tegoshi's hand to sneak it around the other man's waist in a loose grip.

 

Tegoshi didn't answer or turn around. He still refused to show his weakness to anybody, so he simply nodded as the car stopped right outside the the Asylum's entrance.

 

~~~~~~

 

Kimura sensei opened the entrance. There was an eerie silence. They had never noticed how noisy the place had been. Even in the abandoned areas they had frequented there was the notion of life inside, somewhere. Now, there was only a feeling of emptiness. The building had the feeling and look of a place long abandoned.

 

"Remember that the place is not completely empty," Kimura reminded the rest of the party. "Apart from the Suzerain, there might be many affected patients or even nurses. Be careful. And I don't have to remind you how the entities can influence us."

 

They all nodded. "So now we go to the office we all saw in the dream," Yamashita confirmed.

 

"Yes. That was not just a random office. It is the gate from where this entities cross through so in order to push them back and hopefully close the entrance, we have to be there to end it and hopefully close the gate," G told them. "I know you all know the way, but we need to stay together. We don't really know what we can find."

 

Again they all nodded, except for Fujigaya and Maki, who just ignored everything around them.

 

They started walking down the familiar corridors which looked somber and ran down.

 

"How long have we been gone?" Masuda asked, eyes wide in shock as he looked at a patch of wall which looked like something had clawed on it and had dark brown stains Masuda thought might have been blood, but refused to ponder on it too much.

 

"Not long enough for this place to look like this," Shige said with the same shocked expression.

 

"The entities have had free reign all this time. There are 23 people in here. Maybe less, but maybe more. That's why we have to be careful," Kimura warned for the hundredth time. Shige could see that the man was nervous which set Shige's own nerves since the doctor had always seemed so composed before.

 

That was not the worst part, though. A chill went down Shige's spine as he eyed Fujigaya as he fixed his gaze on Tegoshi. The man's eyes were dark and small set in sockets that looked just a little too deep to be normal for a human being. His cheeks had been turning darker and more sunken ever since that dream they had all shared and Shige knew exactly what was happening. The man was being consumed by those things and he was close to turning into their enemy. And Maki was even worse. Shige couldn't even look at the once pretty face, which was now morphed, distorted. Shige moved closer to Tegoshi in case Fujigaya tried anything similar to what Maki had done. He really didn't like the way he was eyeing Tegoshi.

 

He had wanted them stay at the house. They were one more thing to worry about, they were an extra danger.  However, according to the two older men, they all needed to be there and if Fujigaya and Maki had a chance of recovering, those things that were haunting them had to be exorcised, or expelled back into hell or wherever it was they came from.

 

Fujigaya kept his eyes trained on Tegoshi the whole time. Shige forced himself to look at Maki next. She was quietly mumbling to herself. G kept close to her, and Yamashita rarely let his eyes off her. They had finally convinced him not to get close to her but kept gazing worriedly.

 

They were not sure why she had tried to kill Yamashita. The suzerain needed them alive so maybe she had thought in her affected mind that she would be saving him. Or maybe she hadn't been trying to kill him, just weaken him so that he would give in to them. Shige leaned towards the latter but he figured it didn't really matter. It had not been a serious wound in the end even if several stitches had been needed and, every now and then, the man winced at some wrong movement. With any luck everything would be over, for better or worse and Shige feared it might be for worse.

 

As if confirming Shige's gloomy thoughts a screeching sound came from behind them. They all turned around and couldn't make out exactly what they were seeing at first. Something was approaching them in the long poorly lit corridor. It moved spastically as if the muscles wouldn't respond correctly or as if they had free will.

 

When it got closer they could all see it was actually a man. His clothes were torn and he had scratch marks so deep and bloody and the skin was barely visible. Shige was not sure whether his face was distorted or just as messed up as the rest of his body. The man kept coming towards them and let out a shriek so piercing that it seemed to break what was keeping them frozen, fixated on the man-like creature. They started to run when they saw that there were more coming behind.

 

They reached a turn and to their right they saw more people coming after them. They were the patients and nurses that Kimura sensei had left behind. After almost two weeks alone in there with those things influencing them there was nothing human left in them. Shige was reminded of the zombie movies he had been fond of watching when he was younger. The only difference was that these zombies were not claiming their brains.

 

"Keep running and stay together! If you get separated you know where to go," G shouted, not sounding as out of breath as Shige himself felt.

 

The place looked like a sinister maze to Shige. The others were more familiar with the place, however with something running after them, he was not sure anybody knew exactly where they were going.

 

They had 6 behind them but more appeared around every corner. They were being herded, that was it. They were not trying to kill them, however Shige was not sure if they wouldn't hurt them either. He tripped and fell, scraping his hands. He scrambled to his feet, but before he could, he felt a tight grasp on his ankle. He screamed when there was a pull dragging him back and sharp fingernails digging into his flesh.

 

Hands grabbed his forearms. He heard a shrill scream and he was being helped to get up. He turned around to see Yamashita and Koyama fighting off what had not long ago been a woman. To his right, he could see there were more zombie-like people coming, cornering them. There weren't all that many, but it was like they felt no pain. They were hit and kick but they wouldn't fall, they just kept going.

 

"Run!" G shouted. "You know where to go!"

 

Before Shige knew what was going on, Erika was taking his hand and pulling him inside a room. They slammed the door shut and barricaded it with a heavy wooden desk. They waited, staring at the door as it rattled by the force of the pounding on the other side accompanied by shrieks.

 

Shige looked around. Next to him, Erika was still clinging to his hand with her own sweaty one. Yamashita was there, as well, his hands still on the wooden table, with Koyama next to him in a similar pose, and Tegoshi had backed up until his back was against the wall. He was breathing hard but there was hardly any emotion on his face.

 

After a few seconds the shrieking stopped outside.

 

"Are you okay?" Shige registered the female voice asking but only after Erika said his name in a soft panicked voice.

 

"Oh, yes. My ankle throbs a little."

 

"Sit here," Koyama said bringing one of the rusted steel chairs. Shige obeyed and let Erika pull up the torn fabric around his ankle. There was a nasty bruise, it was the size of a hand and it looked deep brownish red and it was already turning dark purple in some places, there were some crescent moon shaped marks, only two were deep enough to break the skin.

 

"Can you move it?"

 

Shige rotated his feet and there was pain there, but not excruciating. "I'm fine, it looks worse than it feels."

 

"Yeah, isn't adrenaline highs the best?" Tegoshi said with a big smile.

 

"Yeah, awesome. And we have annoying Tegoshi back," Shige said in a fake excited voice.

 

"Aaaww I never left,  I was just recovering my strength."

 

"Can you walk?" Yamashita said interrupting the batter that set easily back in between the other two.

 

"I don't think it's broken," Shige answered.

 

"It still hurts," Koyama chimed in. "So, can you walk?"

 

Well, there was no hiding anything from the empath. "Yes, it hurts but I can walk."

 

"Will you be okay, Kei-chan?" Tegoshi asked.

 

Koyama nodded. "I'm fine. I can handle it now." His voice had a coldness that it never had before but Shige attribute it to the seriousness of the situation. However he could see in the look of the others that they had noticed it too.

 

"We have to move," Tegoshi said behind them. He was shaking almost imperceptibly and the happy go lucky attitude cracked just a little. "We have to catch up to them." He didn't wait for an answer. He walked up to an air vent big enough for them to fit.

 

Erika immediately walked towards him and helped him remove the cover with easy practiced movements. In no time the had the vent out. "Come on, we need to go," Tegoshi said impatiently. Nobody argued. As Yamashita walked passed him, Shige saw him lean and whisper something in Tegoshi's ear. Tegoshi set his lip in a fine tight line and nodded once.

 

Right before Shige went in, Tegoshi patted him on the shoulder "Down the rabbit hole we go," he said with his signature smile and wiggling his eyebrows. Well, at least the old Tegoshi was back, and even if it sounded crazy, it made him feel better, safer as it had done when he had been institutionalized.

 

And like his roommate had said, he went down the rabbit hole.

 

~~~~~~

 

Masuda was so close to losing it that he just went on automatic pilot, he walked and followed Kimura sensei because there just wasn't a better option. Going back for Tegoshi was out of the question, they both could end up hurt or, probably, worse.

 

"They'll be fine," Kimura sensei's voice brought him back.

 

"Did you see those things?"

 

"I did. They know this place, and Tegoshi and Erika are experts at crawling the ventilation system. They will be fine. And we were able to evade them and so will they."

 

Masuda didn't say anything. Yes, they had easily evaded those things, Masuda refused to think of them as human, but the others were locked up, no way to run but through the vents, another possible trap.

 

"How did we evade them? Why aren't they after us?"

 

"They know where we are going," Maki said in front of them. Ever since Yamashita's attack Masuda had been reluctant to let the woman at his back. Yamashita however, practically acted as if nothing had happened. He had said he understood her, but didn't elaborate on that and Masuda hadn't asked. Ever since he had started working at that place his life had changed and now he felt like Alice in Wonderland down the deep dark rabbit hole.

 

"What do you mean?" He asked.

 

Fujigaya answered. "Why chase us when we are actually going to them? In order to stop it, we have to be where they are, right, boss?" He spit out the last word without even looking at the former doctor turned patient.

 

What happened next happened too fast for Masuda's brain to process half of it. He felt a something around his neck, a rope. It bruised him and burned. He heard a female  saying "I'm sorry, we have to do it this. We just can't wait any longer. I promise it will be fine. You won't even notice. It's like falling asleep, once you let go."

 

The world started going in and out of focus due to the lack of oxygen. He heard voices as if he was underwater. Fujigaya yelling something, Kimura, yelling back and Maki laughing hysterically behind him right next to his ear. He saw G lying on the floor and that was all he saw before everything went black.

 

~~~~~~

 

The creatures used to be human. They used to have a conscience, individual thoughts. They had just been weaker than the guy or girl next to them. They had been taken and now they could barely be called human.

 

He was not human anymore either but he didn't give a fuck. He was not like those creatures down there; he had been waiting for this, he had set everything in motion and when the time had been right, he had welcomed death, he knew that death, like any state of life, was not permanent. Especially if you knew what you were doing.

 

He had no idea how long it had been. He had no way of knowing time and it didn't matter. What did mattered was the fact that his way back into the living world was here. The vessel was powerful, extremely so but he wasn't using all his potential, he wasn't even aware. Only He had the ability to wield those powers and now he would come back.

 

He had worked, lied, killed and made a pact with not one but seven demons for this. He had been patient and now the third cycle was here. It was his moment.

 


	27. Chapter 27

                                                                      

 

"This place has never been so smelly," Tegoshi whined.

 

He was full on crazy-Tegoshi mode. Shige had forgotten how annoying he was but at least they were out of the vents. The air in the rooms and the halls felt saturated, somehow heavy and difficult to breath in and there was a pungent odor and it got worse as they got closer to their destination.

 

His ankle was a constant throbbing pain and he was starting to limp. Tegoshi had been right, adrenaline rush was the best. However, that was not the worst part. The worst was the murmuring in his ear. He had heard them before but now the words were distinct and there was a single voice and it kept drilling into his head. He wondered whether the rest were suffering the same.

 

He kept quiet, though.

 

_Of course you keep quiet, you are still an outsider. They don't trust you even if it's been how long since you came here?_

 

A year, almost a year.

 

_And they still keep things from you. Even Erika. She still has her secrets with Tegoshi. Do you want me to tell you..._

 

A scream interrupted the voice in his head. They had been hearing those screams on and off but now they were too close so they hurried to hide in one of the rooms.

 

This particular room had a small window at the top of the door. The frosted glass was broken giving them a view of the outside when they brought the desk to the door. They wished they hadn't.

 

Those things were not only looking for them, they were killing each other. If they had nothing else to attack, they went against one another, like the ones outside now. There were four of them and they were practically hacking at each other and they kept going. Bloody and broken, they kept going.

 

They stopped watching. Those things hadn't seen them and they couldn't keep watching the gore outside.

 

"Can we move on from the vents in here?" Shige asked.

 

Tegoshi looked at Erika, who gave a small shrug.

 

"We are not sure. Probably, but if we aren't sure, we could take a wrong turn and end up lost. It's a labyrinth in there if you don't know exactly where you are going," Tegoshi explained.

 

"When we started using the vents, we got lost all the time before we figured out the right turns. But there are still places neither of us knows how to get to," Erika added.

 

_Ah that we, that we never includes you. Look at them, they don't seem to..._

 

A heavy hand on his shoulder stopped the strange rant in his head.

 

"We all hear them," Yamashita said. "None of us has said anything yet. Frankly, it's giving me a headache, a bad one. I hear your thoughts, the voices mirrored in them and I have my own voice talking crazy."

 

There was a silence for a few moments and the only sounds that could be heard were their breathing and pounds and thuds with a wet quality still coming from the outside.

 

Tegoshi broke the silence. "I didn't say anything because what they say has nothing to do with the people here. They say they have Massu and that he is screaming..." He ended in a shrug and scrunching up his nose. "It's a lie, I can tell," he ended with a dismissive wave of his hand. Shige was not sure whether he knew it was a lie or just hoping it was.

 

"What I hear is a lie too," Erika said and murmured something that sounded like ‘probably’ to Shige but he couldn't be sure. She looked at him and the corner of her mouth lifted a little. Shige frowned not really understanding but decided not to ask. Whatever they had been hearing was intended to drive them apart, to make them fight. Probably that way they would be more vulnerable.

 

"Mine was lying too. It's still more annoying than Tegoshi ever was," Shige said.

 

"Aaww, thank you."

 

"It wasn't a compliment, you idiot," Shige scoffed.

 

"Mine are just general doom messages. We will all suffer in hell, nothing we don't know already. Koyama, isn't something you want to say? Or maybe ask?" Yamashita encouraged.

 

Koyama looked away, focusing on the door, and shook his head. Yamashita was about to say something but changed his mind. Finally he said: "Okay, we need a way out of here. Those things are still out there. Do we wait until they leave?"

 

"Erika, maybe we could try what we did at first to know the way. Is Sophie here? Or anybody else?"

 

Erika shook her head. "I haven't heard anybody."

 

"What are you two talking about? What's your ghost friend got to do with this?" Shige asked since nobody else seemed about to.

 

"I would ask Sophie, or some other ghost, to go before us to tell us what was ahead. But I can't hear anybody now. And I doubt anybody would answer. I haven't heard Sophie since that meeting with Kimura sensei and G."

 

Shige squeeze her hand. He could imagine how she felt. Someone you have known for years suddenly stops talking to you has to hurt, whether  that someone was dead or alive. The fact that now they knew that Sophie might be her grandmother could only be messing with Erika's head even more. God, Shige wondered how they had not gone completely crazy with all that was happening.

 

Maybe they had.

 

"Stop thinking so much about everything," Biceps said rubbing the sides of his head. And yes, Shige had used that nickname on purpose, knowing the man would hear him. Yamashita rolled his eyes but otherwise ignored the telepathic slander. Instead he said: "So, there is no one to ask to lead the way,"

 

"No," Erika answered.

 

"Liar," Koyama spoke up for the first time.

 

 

Yamashita sighed. His headache wasn't the worst he had ever had, but it was a constant throbbing at the back of his eyes that was getting slowly, but inexorably, worse. He had been paying attention to Koyama's thoughts all day, as soon as he had realized something was festering in the other man. Shige had been having a similar problem but it wasn't so bad, he wasn't entirely believing the voices, they were gnawing at his head but not as much as in Koyama's. Koyama really believed what the voices were saying, for some reason. Barely realized that the voices didn't come from his own head.

 

Erika was just staring at Koyama with wide shocked eyes. A reaction like that from the man was unusual to say the least, more like it had never happened before. Koyama usually went from being causally friendly to gently quiet. He had never really snapped at anybody. Not even when had been in the bad shape he had been when he first arrived at the institution.

 

"Kei-cha..." Tegoshi started tentatively, for once sensing the atmosphere, but was interrupted.

 

"How long have you been hearing her? Why didn't you ever tell me?" Koyama asked looking straight at Erika in agony and pent up anger.

 

"Who?"

 

"Stop denying it! She's always been here with me and you never said anything. She wanted to talk to me, and you never told me!"

 

"Who!? I don't know what you are talking about!" Erika backed up against the wall as Koyama's tall frame towered over her.

 

"Lin! She's been talking to you and you never told me!"

 

"I swear, if she did, she never said who she was."

 

Shige got closer to Koyama, but before anybody could do anything Koyama grabbed her neck with both hands and banged her head against the wall. He hadn't even consciously thought about doing it, not even Yamashita himself had been prepared for that.

 

They wrenched Koyama off her only after the three of them combined forces.

 

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" Tegoshi yelled.

 

Koyama kept throwing punches at them. "If you had told me..." He started but was silenced by Shige punching him.

 

Koyama screamed and ran for the other man, but Yamashita tackled him to the ground just in time. Tegoshi dove to pin Koyama's arms to the ground.

 

"She doesn't know what you are talking about!" Yamashita shouted right in the face of the man under him. "The only one who knows it's me and only because I took it from your head. Your dead girlfriend hasn't been contacting any of us. What you saw was not real so Calm. The fuck. Down!" Koyama stopped struggling and lay there breathing hard.

 

Shige was kneeling next to Erika, who was gasping and massaging her neck. Shige was gingerly touching the back of her head until she winced.

 

Tegoshi thought that Koyama was finally in control, so he slowly let his arms go, a part of him still expecting the other man to start resisting again. When he didn't, Tegoshi quickly crawled in all fours to where Erika was now sitting.

 

Yamashita looked beneath him to Koyama. He didn't need to ask if he had calmed down, he was focused on his thoughts. He would not be unprepared again.

 

Slowly, he let the other man go. Koyama turned on his side grabbing his head. Partly due to Erika's pain, and partly due to the mess in his head.

 

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

 

"Sorry! You nearly ripped her head off!"

 

"Shige..." Erika started.

 

"He is right," Koyama interrupted. "I just couldn't... I wanted to think she was still around."

 

"Maybe. I only know who the voices are when they tell me. But I would have told you. I swear."

 

"I know. I'm sorry." Koyama turned back to Yamashita. "I'm tired and I don't think we can win this. How can we when we don't even know what the hell we are doing?"

 

"So, what?" Tegoshi asked. "What do we have to lose? I don't want to live the rest of my life either locked up or having nightmares and hearing voices until I really do go crazy, do you?"

 

"Let's keep going. Whatever we do, we cannot leave the others." Yamashita stood up helping Koyama.

 

The five of them started walking, making sure the way was clear. They knew they were close. They heard screaming again. Their first reaction was to look for a place to hide but then they recognized the voices and ran faster until they were met by something they had not expect.

 

~~~~~~~

 

Masuda regained consciousness and figured he hadn't been killed. If he had been, he would hurt less. His neck burnt and his throat ached. When he tried to move his arms, he felt the pull of ropes biting into his wrist on his back.

 

There were people speaking. He couldn't really place the voices but he could hear what they were saying.

 

"Why are you doing this?"

 

"We are collecting what is ours," a female voice and a male voice said at once, perfectly synchronized.

 

Masuda opened his eyes and was thankful the lights were dim. His sight focused and he could see Kimura sensei and the other man both lying seemingly unconscious.

 

"When did this happen? When did you change?" Someone was asking.

 

"For a while now. They were still screaming inside until recently, but realized it was futile and now they are in peace, like you will be," both Fujigaya and Maki said at once.

 

"Where is Massu?"

 

That voice Masuda recognized at once. He tried to called out to Tegoshi but his voice was gone.

 

"Give in and we'll get him for you. You two can be together in the afterlife. You all can. We only need your bodies."

 

"Yeah, you keep saying that."

 

Masuda noticed he was hidden behind something, he couldn't tell what it was. He tried to move hoping he would be seen.

 

"Because it's the truth," the eerie perfectly synched voices kept saying. "And what can you do now? The two people who knew what to do are lying here unconscious. We need your bodies, but we don't need them unharmed, we can survive and repair any damage that may occur. You can accept us or we can torture you until you do. You are ours, you cannot escape."

 

 

Tegoshi was scanning the room looking for Masuda. He knew he had to be alive, but he was worried about the state he would be in.

 

"Yamashita, Maki is waiting for you..."

 

So they were going for the low blows.

 

_Masuda probably gave in too. How long has he..._

 

Tegoshi ignored the voice inside his head. That was a plus of being used to getting possessed, he could distinguish very well which thoughts were his and which were alien. He saw movement out of the corner of his eyes. Masuda.

 

"Massu," he said and darted towards him only to be pushed back so forcefully that he literally flew and crashed against a wall. Probably not the best idea to run like that.

 

He was now behind Maki and Fujigaya. He stayed on the floor, motionless, partly because he wanted them to forget about him but mostly because he felt dizzy due to banging his head against the wall. He could see Massu. He was awake but he could see the other man was hurt. Kimura was on his side, facing away from him.

 

He looked at where G was lying and was startled to see his eyes opened. He nodded and Tegoshi knew what he was trying to say. He knew what he had to do, he had remembered what he had told G after he had been possessed. He actually knew what to do. He just didn't like it. He didn't want to be the one to do it, either.

 

"We are tired of waiting." As soon as Maki and Fujigaya said that, a soft wind started around them. It grew stronger steadily and quickly until it became a whirlwind that impeded much movement. Even though the noise and movement, Tegoshi noticed that they were both saying something, chanting was more like it.

 

Sticking close to the ground, Tegoshi crawled to where Massu was still lying, curled up to the side, probably protecting himself as best he could from the wind and the things flying around them. They were lucky the room had been almost empty.

 

"Massu!" He wasn't sure the other man would hear, and he didn't want to shout and risk drawing attention to himself.

 

"Massu!" He repeated, this time closer.

 

Right when he thought the other man was unconscious or, god forbid, worse, he moved. He turned around and mouthed, "T-Tegoshi?"

 

Tegoshi gave a sigh of relief. "Hang on, I'll get the ropes off you." And the fact that he didn't add anything on the lines of 'in other circumstances I wouldn't mind you in ropes' was a true testament of how scared he was.

 

He looked up and saw the others untying the other two men on the floor. He helped Massu sit down, he looked pale, almost green, and around his neck there were deep dark bruises and scrapes. He had been obviously choked until he passed out. Thank god those things needed them alive... alive didn't mean in a good physical condition, though.

 

"Are you okay?" He asked.

 

The other man didn't answer, in a swift motion he enveloped Tegoshi inside his arms in a bear hug that cut his breath but he couldn’t bring himself to care, he just reciprocated with his own vise tight hug.

 

"Are you okay?" He repeated.

 

This time Massu nodded. "Are you?" He mouthed again. But this time Tegoshi noted that it was not that the other man was mouthing thing, his voice was raspy and nearly gone. Tegoshi lightly traced the marks on the other man's neck but before neither could do anything else there was a loud sound, like a great rip, which brought them back to reality.

 

In the middle of the room, the long old and run down table that had dominated the place before, was torn in half and there was something that could have been described as a tear in the air that went from the ceiling to the floor. It was irregular and there was a red glow that seemed to move and every time it did, glimpses of the other side was visible. There was something that looked like a red rock formation, like a sort of bizarre canyon and then the things started to come out.

 

None of them could have describe them, they were like nothing they had ever seen. And Tegoshi started to feel it. The crawling under his skin, the numbing in his extremities. It wasn't coming from the tear in the room and it didn't feel like when he had been possessed by the suzerain. There was a difference when he was possessed by a demon than when a spirit did. He couldn't explained it, only feel it. And now, they were not alone with the entities, there was something else, something that had once, not long ago, been human.

 

He, for it was definitely a male presence, was trying to get in, take over him but it wasn't threatening, not really. He held his breath when he realized what was going on, who was trying to take over. Tears were forming in his eyes but he forced them back.

 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw G moving but he was unable to stand. The man looked straight at him. Kimura seemed out, still, and Tegoshi was the only one who knew what to do.

 

They had to call the gatekeeper and this was their chance to do it.

 

Tegoshi reached out and grabbed Masuda by the neck to bring him close, crashing their lips together in a sloppy deep kiss.

 

He looked at Masuda, who was looking back wide eyed and shocked. Tegoshi smiled and brought the other man's head close to whisper into his ear "I love you," then, he kissed Masuda's cheek, lingering for only two seconds.

 

He turned around, not waiting for an answer from the shocked man. Tensing, he waited for G to make the move and he hoped it was fast because he might change his mind any second now.

 

G went for Maki. She was stronger than she should have and defended herself easily from G, who was more than twice as big and still wasn't more than a distraction. But that was all Tegoshi needed as he gathered every ounce of strength he had and ran as fast as he could and barreled into Fujigaya and, with the momentum of the run, they both stumbled into the gate that had been opened in the room. The mass of energy swallowed them.

 


	28. Chapter 28

At first all that can be seen is darkness, all that can be heard is a slight wind. Tegoshi had landed, somehow, under Fujigaya, one arm against a cold slimy rock floor. Two seconds after falling in, Tegoshi's air supply was cut; a hand was around his neck and easily lifted him up.

"What do you think you are doing, you little worm?"

Tegoshi had no air to answer, not that the question wasn’t rhetorical and actually required an explanation.

"What do you think you will accomplish with this?"

This time, an actual answer was required since the pressure on his windpipe eased off just enough for him to talk.

"The gatekeeper..."

Fujigaya laughed. "Ah, so you think that if you piss me off enough I will make you bleed and human blood in the demon realm will alert the keeper. Well, boy, I don't need to make you bleed to kill you, or bring you pain."

One hand squeezed harder while the other one grabbed Tegoshi's left arm and twisted it between his body and the wall. And right then there was a loud ratcheting sound, like stone impacting on steel and the earth move, making Fujigaya lose his footing and release Tegoshi.

He took a deep wheezing breath and then another as his vision blurred and everything around him shook as if in an earthquake. For some reason, Tegoshi thought that the last time he had felt an earthquake he had still been with his mother, not long before he had been taken away. His mother had blamed the earthquake on him, but he couldn't remember why.

"What the hell did you do?" His mother asked. No, it wasn't his mother. It was Fujigaya talking. Tegoshi squeezed his eyes shut and took another breath before looking up to Fujigaya with a shit-eating grin. He lifted his right hand, showing his palm, which was bleeding where he had cut it against a sharp edge of the wall.

"Human blood brings the gatekeeper forth. Nothing says one of you suckers has to draw it."

Tegoshi didn't wait to see the reaction his comment caused; he turned around looking for the gate. It was not as easy to see on this side, but he noticed a disturbance in the air and ran to it, hoping that it had not been a trick of the dim lights or lack of oxygen in his brain. Another shock wave and he fell. He heard a blood curling scream and he guessed that whatever the gatekeeper was had gotten to the suzerain in Fujigaya, but Tegoshi didn't turn around to watch. The sounds were enough and the creature making them was not Fujigaya. He was dead, Tegoshi had felt him trying to take over, probably as a way of letting him know that only the suzerain was occupying the body.

Setting his thoughts aside, he tried to stand up, but he kept slipping on the wet floor and then there was a hand on his forearm.

 

Shige was not sure what was going on. Too many things were happening at once. One second he was talking to the bodies of Maki and Fujigaya, the next he was in the middle of a hurricane, or at least that was how it felt like. And now he was helping G get up on weak legs and in a second the other man was running towards Maki and from the corner of his eye he saw Tegoshi doing the same, but running towards Fujigaya and then he was gone, swallowed up by the rip in the middle of the room. Something flew and it took a moment for Shige to realize what it was. G's body had flown across the room hit the wall with the sickening sound of bones breaking and fell on the floor like a rag doll.

Shige didn't know if the man was dead but he had no time to check. White shadows were circling the room. There were seven in total and they were wailing like banshees with strident high pitched shrills that pierced your ears and went straight to Shige's brain.

Erica was looking around, wide eyed covering her ears with her fists. Shige supposed it wasn't doing much good. Then the noise just stopped. Things kept moving in the whirlwind but there was just no noise but a faint static noise.

The suzerain took form. They were the same as in the dream they had had and different. More terrible. More indescribable. They were surrounding them. And out of the corner of his eyes he saw... someone. However, when he tried to focus on it the image was already gone.

He had no idea what to do. His body as frozen as his brain. They were locked up, surrounded, no way out and he wasn't surprised. They had gone in blind with no real plan; or if there was one, they were not in on it. Well, not nobody. Tegoshi had looked like he had had a purpose. And he hadn't come out. Shige looked at the light rip in front of them and took a deep breath. He didn't ran towards it like Tegoshi had. He had always been much more conscientious than that.

Kimura sensei was up now, although he didn't look exactly his best, with a pale complexion and blood caked on the side of his head. Next to him were Erica, Yamashita and Koyama. They were all facing Maki and the other entities were looking at them, still unmoving. Shige couldn't hear what they were saying but Maki was showing emotions now: anger.

He decided he didn't care what was going on there as long as nobody was paying attention to him, or to what he was doing. As Shige got closer to the rip in the air, he felt a pull and a push alternatively like a current. He felt someone behind him. Masuda.

“That... thing is pulsing... it's like drawing me in and shoving me away...” The other man said.

“Yes. And the closer we get the worse it is.”

“But we have to... we can't leave him there.”

Shige merely shook his head. It was all going to hell, but he could at least do this.

Bolted almost to the center of the room, to the right of what Shige assumed was some kind of portal to nowhere good, given their luck, was a sturdy metal hospital bed. Shige didn't even want to think why a bed would be bolted to the floor on what had once been a conference room. He looked sideways, the others were still busy, there was no sign of physical confrontation, but one didn't seem to be far away. Yamashita probably knew what he was planning. The man nodded slightly. He hated Yamashita's abilities but it had its uses.

The beings, the suzerain, were still, but now started to squeal. Shige took a deep breath.

“Ok, we have to go in and get him out of... wherever he is,” Shige started. “But, we have no idea what's on the other side and that thing seems to suck in everything that gets close...”

“I'll go, I...”

Shige interrupted the doctor. “No, I will and you are going to hang on to me so we make sure that I don't get sucked in... or fall into.”

“I want to...”

“Yes, yes, I know,” Shige said impatiently. “You want to rescue him and all, but honestly, you look buffer and stronger than me, and we don't have time to argue so grab on to that bed and then me.”

Masuda nodded and did as he was told and Shige went in.

 

He was watching everything and if he had still been alive he would have been red with rage. He had been preparing for decades, had given his life and waited in the afterlife and now they were failing. He didn't care if the Suzerain were sent back to the underworld, but he needed their power if he was going to come back as an immortal creature.

The beings were unmoved, still, surrounding the group. They could not physically touch them, that was part of the contract that they could not breach. ‘It was all over’, the spirit that had once been called Katori by his parents, thought. His grandsons knew how to vanish the creatures; why else would that little brat have ran into the other world. He was summoning the gatekeeper, which was not exactly a herculean effort once you knew how to do it.

He looked about the room. The suzerain generals began to howl. After the earthquake they probably knew that they had been defeated by a group of human children. Katori could also see other, lesser suzerain gathering, inexorably drawn by the gate. Most were powerful, some were mere infants in suzerain terms.

There was also one of his descendants on the floor; he was mortally wounded but still alive. He was one of the promised ones, not that it mattered now, by the look of things. The offspring of his other son was conscious and diverting the attention away from the two young men by the gate.

He had to think of something else if he was going to come back to the world of the living.

The two young men accomplished their task, Katori noticed. They brought the younger one back, wide eyed and shaking from fear and shock, but otherwise unharmed; and then came a roar and the whole building convulsed, its foundations rattling, walls peeling in the vibration.

The gatekeeper was here; the suzerain moaned and wailed but any outcry was for naught, the beings were wrenched from this reality into their own until none was left. Well, not quite none, Katori realized with a smile.

~~~~~~

Shige went into the source of light in a much more consciously way than Tegoshi had and the shock was not diminished by it. It was hell, as he had read in novels, no less but so much more. However, he could not ponder on it for more than a second, Tegoshi was running blindingly towards him, stumbling as he went. Shige managed to catch his roommate and wrench him backwards making them both fall on Masuda in a tangle of limbs.

Tegoshi scrambled to his feet first pulling Masuda and then Shige up before another tremble shook them. Tegoshi opened his mouth; “run!” He screamed and Shige was disinclined to argue but he wasn’t sure where to run to. The opening at their back, the suzerain in front of them, they were practically surrounded.

Shige turned around in time to see the gate, still giving off the unearthly glow, stretch letting a creature into the room. The creature seemed to be twenty meters tall, even if it made no sense since surely the ceiling was not that high. It seemed to dwarf the room and still fit and it was nothing Shige could have imagined. It was beautiful in a terrible way. The skin looked made out of molten lava and stone, moving, forming sinewy muscle. Looking up, its face moved in heavy ropes around a slim face with big slanted eyes devoid of any color except pitch black, there was no nose but a row of orifices leading to a mouth filled with sharp shark-like teeth. 

Shige’s throat hurt and he realized he had been screaming, his own cry mixing with those of the others in the room. After that, Shige was not sure what happened.

The Suzerain got caught in what could only be described as a hurricane. There were painful howls and the earthquake was back bringing them all to their knees.

Maki was directly in front of them, her face showing fear. Complete and utter Terror. The other Suzerain had been sucked into the portal in the middle of the room, the creature that had come out of it, turned its attention to the one Suzerain remaining in the human vessel.

Maki cowered attempting to run. A pointless action. The guardian reached for her, grasping at her throat, but instead of latching in the flesh the hand went through it and yanked. Maki’s body collapse as the creature that had inhibited was violently removed, kicking and thrashing. The guardian lifted the Suzerain until they were face to face. The guardian’s mouth elongated. Shige could see slimy saliva dripping from the sharp teeth before the Suzerain was gobbled up. Then, without so much as a look behind, the Guardian left as he had come.

Once again, everything was still, the portal still pulsing, glowing mutely, but nothing else.

Yamashita ran to Maki’s unmoving body. “Maki?” He called shaking her gingerly. Shige moved closer. Her face was eerily pale, looking more like a wax statue than a person. Still moving slowly, Shige reached out to touch the body’s slim wrist to look for a pulse but as soon as his fingertips were on her skin he knew there would be no pulse to find. She was cold. Not as if she had been out in a winter night but as if blood no longer ran under the pale skin. She was dead and probably had technically been dead for some time now. 

No one said anything until Shige felt something that tugged at his insides without moving him physically. And the whirlwind, sucking everything around them, started again. The floor started to shake, not enough to make them fall but the walls were starting to crack visibly. The few objects left in the room swirled around them. ‘We have to get out of here’, Shige thought. As he turned around to say this to the rest, he never saw the mid-sized brick coming straight to the side of his head.

 

Erika saw Shige drop to the floor and lay there. She dropped next to him and saw that he was profusely bleeding from the side of his head, it looked bad but he was breathing and Erika knew head injuries tended to bleed a lot. There was no time to check on much more. Now the bricks were coming out of the walls and she wasn’t sure if the ceiling would hold or for how long.

“We have to go. Now.” Erika turned to look at Kimura sensei. He was standing up from where he had been crouching next to G. He looked tired and grim and Erika didn’t have to ask anything. She looked around.

“Where is Koyama?” She asked. Everybody shook their head.

“Maybe he’s already out…” Kimura started to say.

“He wouldn’t leave us here!” Tegoshi interrupted from the floor where he sat grabbing his ankle.

“We have to go regardless. This place is collapsing and we don’t have much time.” Nobody disagreed. Nobody could, really.

Kimura moved to the door avoiding the growing amount of bricks in the air. “I’ll go first and see if… those things are still out there, but you better be right behind me if you want to get out of here.” He shouted as a sibilant sound, barely audible before, increased.

Tegoshi was standing up with the help of Masuda, who was helping him climb on his back. Tegoshi was not putting any weight on his left bare foot, which already looked swollen to twice its size. He must have hurt it at some point.

Shige was still lying there, breathing but not moving. It was clear that she wouldn’t be able to carry him; not far anyway.

“Yamashita-kun,” she called but the man didn’t answer. He was on the floor, next to Maki’s body, his back bent towards her.

Erika got closer. “Yamashita,” she tried again and put a hand on his shoulder. With a quick flick of the wrist, Yamashita slapped her hand away but otherwise ignored her. “Please, we have to leave…”

Yamashita shook his head closing his eyes.

“Please,” she insisted, his eyes filling with tears now. “I need your help. I can’t carry him alone. Please.”

At that Yamashita finally looked at her and then behind, seeing Shige on the floor. He looked around and he seemed to realize, just now, what was happening around him. He opened his eyes wide and nodded. He looked at the body next to him one last time and closed his mouth tightly, so that it was only a white thin line. He moved to where Shige was and Erika helped him get the unconscious man on his back as a piece of one of the walls collapsed.

Erika crossed the door followed by Yamashita carrying Shige. Kimura sensei came running with Koyama in tow.

“I think I found a way out but everything is falling apart, and the suzerain may be gone but those other… people are still around,” he said before anybody could say anything. “This way.”

Nobody argued they just followed the man through winding halls that collapsed almost as soon as they left them. They finally made it to the newer part of the building and here it was no better. The automatic doors opened and closed on their own and the lights flickered. But worst of all, the former patients turned to zombies, Erika thought for lack of a better word, were back.

“Zombie is as good a word as any,” Yamashita murmured next to her, already sounding breathless.

They were coming from every side, almost every door.

“Go that way. You know the way out, don’t you?” Erika nodded and she supposed the others did the same. “Good. Go.”

“But, you…”

“I’ll follow, go.”

They went just as the zombie-like creatures burst inside. Erika now noticed that Kimura had a sort of cane, like the ones the orderlies guarding the maximum security cells had and Koyama had one just like it. He was right behind her but when she crossed the door Koyama closed it staying on the other side with Kimura.

Erika looked at Koyama, bewildered. “What are you doing?”

“Just go, it’s fine,” he said from the other side of the glass window and blocked the door.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“It’s the way it’s supposed to be, trust me. If I can I’ll follow you.” There was a scream and Koyama turned around. “Go! Now!”

Erika could see bits and pieces of Koyama and Kimura fighting those things. She tried to open the door but it was stuck. Everything was falling down around them and the walls would not exist for much longer.

“Eri..” She heard Tegoshi’s voice. She turned around to look at the others, they were all beyond scared and Tegoshi’s eyes were filled with unshed tears. They all knew they had to keep going or die there, but none of them liked it.

There was a strong quake that almost made them fall and they heard the unmistakable noise of brick on brick and they started to move again, Erika on the lead.

 

Koyama had made up his mind but it was still difficult to see them leave. Not because they were leaving him, he knew they didn’t have much choice, but because for years they had been an intrinsic part of his life, a life that was now coming to an end. He had no hope of surviving, nor did he want to. He had been living on borrowed time, or that was how he felt.

The zombie things were coming and they seemed to be more now, probably they were trying to get out as well. They would not succeed. He jumped in to help Kimura sensei. They fought knowing that they were clearly outnumbered but winning had never been the plan; they were just stalling, giving the others a better chance to escape.

There was a quake but they kept fending the things off, splitting open their heads with any weapon at their disposal. There was another quake, bigger this time. Kimura fell and immediately one of the creatures grabbed him by the head and yanked, twisting the neck. Koyama turned around, unable to watch. He ran back the way they had come and when the earth moved again he fell. He turned on his back expecting the same fate as Kimura. The things were coming close, looking not quite human but still keeping a whisper of what they used to be, he even thought he could recognize some of them. Funny the things that come to mind when you are about to die. Koyama’s train of thought was cut by an even stronger quake that made the ceiling and the wall crumble on themselves burying the creatures along with him and then no light, no noise.

He was being crushed, he couldn’t breathe but after a second it didn’t matter and he felt lighter. He heard a voice and followed. There was one last bit of breath his mouth opened. “Lin.” His heart beat stopped… 1 second… 3 seconds… 6… and the dead heart slowly, faintly started pumping again.

The walls cracked and bricks flew into the portal which was becoming smaller but stronger at the same time. No living creature would be left. There were only two faint heartbeats that kept going against all odds. Four set of lungs barely sucking what little air they could from beneath the rumbles of what was once an imposing building.

 

Ryo parked where he had been told. It was dark already and he had no idea how long he would have to wait but he hoped it wouldn’t be too long. He had a clear view of the institution and he felt like he hadn’t been there in decades not merely a couple of weeks. 

He turned his head around and looked at the passenger seat of his car which was occupied by a thick brown envelope. He had been instructed to find a shady guy by the name of Tanaka and retrieve the envelope. He looked inside; there were IDs and passports with last names Ryo didn’t know but faces he recognized very well. There were also bank accounts information. He stopped looking. He knew enough and he didn't want to know anymore.

With shaking hands he took out a pack of cigarettes and lit one up. He focused on the slight burn on his throat and lungs instead of the eerie sensation he had and the wind that felt like no wind he had ever experienced before. He tried to convince himself that the hair at the back of his neck was not standing up in goosebumps.

He was half way through the pack when he felt the ground move. Earthquakes were not rare in Japan, although less frequent in that area and it didn’t seem like a big one so he didn’t worry until he saw the building in front of him all but implode. It fell on itself giving him the idea of a slayed giant. He walked a few steps forward and he saw figures coming up the hill towards him; they were climbing painstakingly and as they got closer he recognized them and he hurried to help them.

They made it to the side of the car and turned around to see the ruins that were left. Just ramble and dust. Nothing more.

After two hours, or maybe two minutes, who knew, who cared, they were all in Ryo’s car driving somewhere; none of them knew where at the moment. They were free, in a matter of speaking, but they could only hope that it was all over and take comfort that everything they had lost was somehow worth it. Even though it probably wasn’t, even though it might never be really over and they might never be entirely free.


	29. Epilogue

A year later

  

Among about 128.000.000 people it was relatively easy to disappear in Japan. There was the news of the collapse of a once state of the art mental health facility. People forgot where it had been located soon, and not long after that, forgot about the patients unaccounted for, but who were most probably dead.

Eventually the news moved onto other events. A crime here, a politician scandal there and a group of people who were thought to be dead just blended into the population almost seamlessly.

 G and Kimura had left them enough money to find a place to live permanently if they chose to. And they had. For some reason they stayed together. Maybe the years most of them had spent trapped inside those walls. Most probably because they found safety in being together.

 They had found jobs and they were living common lives, or as common as they could. Their abilities were as strong as they had been before which gave them the idea that maybe it was not over but none of them couldn’t be sure.

 Shige went into his apartment. He knew Erika would still be on her computer. She had found she was good with them and was doing freelance web design for small businesses. It suited her well since she was always reluctant to leave the apartment unless it was at night.

 He wasn't surprised to see Tegoshi sitting on Shige's couch. "Don't you have a home?"

 "Yes, next door remember?" The other man answered, not hearing, or choosing to ignore, the sarcasm in Shige's tone, which had been mostly fake anyway.

 "Then why aren't you in it?"

 "Massu's not home and I don't like being alone," he pouted as Shige sat down next to him, deciding not to complain yet again about the football game on the TV screen. 

Tegoshi scooted over and put his head on Shige's shoulder. Shige protested feebly. A few minutes later Erika joined them and sat down on Shige's other side, imitating almost exactly Tegoshi's pose. Shige didn't complain even when it was obvious the other two had fallen asleep.  

 He was starting to doze off when he heard his door. One day they had to start locking their doors, but he knew who it was. Yamashita came and went, never staying for longer than a couple of days at a time. If any of the others knew where he went, they weren't saying and Shige wasn't asking, at least for now.

 So there was only one other person who it could be.

 "I figured he would be here," Masuda's voice came softly as he walked around the couch and sat on the coffee table facing Shige.

 "You can take him back," Shige said.

 Masuda smiled.

 "Something is going on, isn't it?"

 "I think so... and Tegoshi thinks so too. We can feel it. Probably you and Erika too. Yamashita as well, wherever he is."

 "It's not the same as before." It was Tegoshi.

 "Then what is it?" Shige asked even when he knew the others didn't have an answer.

 "I don't think it’s coming for us." Erika said putting her arms around Shige's waist. And they stopped talking about it and made dinner and kept on trying to live life as normally as possible.

  
  


Miles away, there was a piece of land nobody went to anymore. Locals avoided it and nature had quickly taken over the roads that had once lead there. In the middle of the area, the rumbles of an old building lay. Cold and gray. and under the brick and rubbles there were broken bodies, almost completely decomposed. All except two. An old spirit and a young, weak creatures that had escaped the sight of the gatekeeper. The bodies had been broken, crushed, but the hearts had still been beating, faintly, erratically. It had taken a couple of years but they had mended them and now they were ready.

The biggest pile of debris and rubble started to move and shift and a hand made it's way out. Two tall bodies emerged in the tattered remains of their clothes. They had had names. Gackt and Koyama. No more. They were something else. All the wait had been worth it. It was time to live again and now, a lowly soldier of the suzerain had succeeded, when all the powerful commanders had failed, and was out in this world. Now, what had once been a simple doctor was reborn in the powerful body he had been promised. He could do anything, be anybody. And everything was starting now.   

 

 

 

                                                                          

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading to the end! I hope you enjoyed the story and that you let me know what you think if you have some time ;)

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first story I'm posting here, but it has been posted in other sites (just in case you've seen it before :) )
> 
> *If you want to hear the song Tegoshi was singing, here is a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bDLSxM8yHw
> 
> Hope you enjoyed reading.


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